Greeley’s municipal judge was removed from the bench Wednesday after the Weld County Sheriff’s Office produced a summons against her for official misconduct.
Judge Brandilynn Nieto, who has been Greeley’s municipal judge since 2012, has been charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor, after the Weld sheriff’s office investigation.
She was removed from the bench and put on paid administrative leave.
According to Cpl. Matt Turner of the Weld County Sheriff’s office, Nieto “used her position to have some of her employees go online and make comments that would benefit a local company.”
Turner did not provide the name of the company, or any other information, and stated that the case may be turned over to the Larimer County District Attorney because of jurisdictional issues. Because of that, he said he couldn’t release many details.
Information about the case initially came to the Greeley Police Department, which deferred the complaint to the sheriff’s office for investigation because of a conflict of interest in investigating a Greeley official.
“It was not appropriate for us to be part of any investigation,” said Sgt. Joe Tymkowych of the Greeley police.
Greeley Mayor Tom Norton was informed of the summons on Wednesday. He said he didn’t ask what it was about, but he decided after phone calls to other council members that Nieto should be placed on leave until the matter is resolved.
“The complaint came in, the sheriff’s office investigated, and said we’ll serve her a summons,” Norton said. “It really doesn’t change the action that I would take. We have to go on with our business. I will want to know and I will take action, and we’ll have a personnel meeting with the city to determine the outcome if something comes of” the summons.
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The Greeley City Council in 2012 appointed Nieto to a four-year term on the bench, and recently reappointed her for another four years, said Betsy Holder, city clerk. In her absence, the city has use of six alternate judges who can fill in and take Nieto’s place. Municipal judges are not term-limited. She earns well over $100,000 per year.
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Nieto is a former Weld District Attorney’s Office attorney who prosecuted one of the more prominent murder cases in the state back in 2009. She helped get a guilty verdict against Allen Andrade, who murdered Angie Zapata, a transgender woman living in Greeley. The case received nationwide attention as it was being prosecuted as Greeley’s first transgender hate crime. Shortly after the case, transgenders were put in as a protected class under the national hate crime laws.
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Nieto’s husband, Matt Pring, reached via Facebook Thursday evening, deferred comment to Nieto’s attorney, Derek Samuelson. Reached Friday morning, Samuelson said: “What’s happened is very upsetting to Ms. Nieto. She is a strong believer in our system of justice and is confident that in time, the truth will come out, justice will be done and she will be exonerated.”
Weld District Attorney’s Office spokesman Tyler Hill said his office has not yet received paperwork on the summons, a process he said that typically takes four to six weeks. He said Nieto’s court date is some time in October.