Prosecutors: Deputy Jailed After Buying Gun For Drug-Dealing Boyfriend
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (CBS4) - A former Douglas County Sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to jail for buying a gun for her boyfriend, who is a felon. Bianca Roberts, 36, was indicted in October 2017, accused of buying a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol for a former inmate, Joshua Tisch.
According to court documents in the case, Roberts was a jail deputy and one of the inmates she oversaw was Tisch. Tisch has a lengthy felony record including burglary convictions and an 11-page rap sheet.
The two struck up a relationship while Tisch was in the Douglas County Jail. Investigators say after Tisch got out of jail in 2017, the relationship with the deputy continued and became sexual. Roberts was married at the time.
A photo red light ticket in Denver apparently set in motion actions that would eventually lead to Roberts' criminal case.
On Jan. 26, 2017, a red light photo violation ticket was issued to Roberts' husband's car when it ran a red light at 6th Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard. However, court documents say Tisch was actually driving the car and the issuance of the ticket was how Roberts' husband learned she was having an affair with Tisch.
In February 2017, investigators contend Deputy Roberts and Tisch traveled to the Jackson Creek Armory in Sedalia where he gave her money and she bought him a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol "because she wanted him to be safe" as he was selling marijuana.
Lauren Lekander, a spokesperson for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, said Roberts was a deputy from 2012 until May of 2017 when she resigned in the face of the ongoing investigation.
Roberts pleaded guilty Dec. 17 to straw purchase of a firearm, a felony. She also pleaded guilty to violating terms of her bond during the case after authorities discovered over 300 phone calls between Roberts and Tisch after the indictment was unsealed when a court had ordered them to have no contact.
Roberts was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
"Purchasing a firearm for a convicted felon is outrageous," said District Attorney George Brauchler. "Purchasing a firearm for a felon to protect himself from the dangers of illegal drug dealing is inexplicable and unjustifiable. The good men and women who serve in uniform don't want these bad apples amongst them, and citizens deserve better from those tasked with protecting them."
"We expect law enforcement members to uphold the law, not to break it. Roberts threw away her career, repeatedly choosing this felon over her oath to uphold the law," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Dawson, who prosecuted the case. "Now she is a two-time felon, serving a sentence as a prisoner in the very jail in which she was employed as a deputy."