Loveland Detective Faces Charges In Connection With Murder He Was Investigating
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - A Loveland police detective has been charged with a felony in connection with a murder he was investigating.
According to Kimberly Weeks with the Weld County District Attorney's Office, Detective Brian Koopman, 45, has been formally charged with attempt to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony for attempting to influence a judge. He's been place on leave from the department.
Koopman was investigating Leroy Wallace, a suspect in a murder of 42-year-old Christina Gray of Loveland in December of 2013. Wallace was arrested soon after the murder.
According to Loveland police the arrest warrant alleges that Wallace committed the offenses of murder in the first degree and stalking.
Gray was found after a family member requested that two friends check on her after they hadn't heard from her for a while. She was found beaten and strangled. Detectives say Wallace and the victim knew each other.
The Larimer County District Attorney "appointed the Weld County District Attorney's Office to investigate Koopman's conduct during the investigation and prosecution of the Leroy Wallace homicide case," Weeks said in a statement.
"No prosecutor relishes the notion of charging a law enforcement officer with a crime. However, police officers are held to a higher standard than other members of our community, and when there are allegations that an officer committed a crime, the allegations must be taken very seriously and investigated fully," District Attorney Michael J. Rourke said. "The level of proof or sufficiency of evidence in a case like this is the same standard of proof necessary before any citizen is accused of a crime."
No other information about why Koopman has been charged has been released.
Koopman is also the target of a civil lawsuit. He's accused of lying to obtain a search warrant.