Former Colorado City district manager faces charges of theft and embezzlement

A former Colorado city district manager faces criminal charges of theft and embezzlement.

On September 13, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office announced the charges against David Valdez. Valdez worked as district manager of Colorado City for eight years before stepping down in 2018.

Sheriff’s detectives opened an investigation with the Metro District in June after it was reported that thousands of dollars in cash paid by customers for utilities had never been deposited into the Metro District’s bank account. The investigation revealed that at least two customers had paid cash to the then district manager, Valdez, for the water, but no records could be found indicating that the money had been deposited on a metropolitan district account. Sheriff’s detectives also learned that receipts were written by Valdez for water purchases.

“When we learned of this discrepancy, we conducted a thorough investigation into the incident,” Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk M. Taylor said. “We would like to thank Colorado City Metro District officials for bringing this to our attention and cooperating fully with the investigation.”

According to court documents obtained by 11 News, the alleged crimes occurred between May 2017 and September 30, 2018. The first charge of theft is between $20,000 and $100,000.