DENVER – Consider what happened over the weekend inside the downtown Denver jail equal parts unusual and awkward.
With a warrant in hand, Denver police officers walked into the jail looking for a suspect in an insurance fraud case on Saturday.
Minutes later, they walked out with a Denver sheriff’s deputy by their side.
“Deputy Gareth Stepp was arrested and charged with insurance fraud and forgery by El Paso County Stepp is on paid investigatory leave from the Denver Sheriff Department,” read a Monday statement from department spokesperson Daria Serna.
Technically, the police officers arrested Stepp inside the Denver Police Department less than a block away.
Investigators believe Stepp falsely reported losses from a reported burglary inside his home in El Paso County in 2016.
“Stapp submitted a signed and notarized inventory list and proof of loss for the claim [to his insurance company]…The total value of the listed items claimed by Gareth Stepp in the Proof of Loss is $12,509.82,” according to the affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Investigators clearly became suspicious when, according to court documents, Stepp’s reported losses included a wedding ring he had previously reported stolen in 2014.
Stepp faces three counts of insurance fraud and two counts of forgery.
He was booked in the El Paso County Jail over the weekend, but jail records indicate he has since bonded out.
