A police lieutenant from Denver is in hot, hot water after being accused of engaging in illegal drug use and leaving work to have sex with a man he met on Grindr while on duty.
Philip Epple is, er, was a lieutenant with the Denver Police Department, where he had served since 2001. In March, his fellow officers raided his house, where they found all sorts of illegal narcotics and steroids.
Epple was put on administrative leave after the raid. He announced his retirement a few weeks later.
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Now, a man by the name of Matthew Otto has contacted Denver police to say he connected with Epple and Epple’s “husband” on Grindr and that the three regularly met up do to cocaine, ecstasy, and have sex.
According to the affidavit:
Otto stated that there were numerous times, at the beginning of the relationship, in which Epple would return to the residence while he was ‘on duty’ to have sex with Otto. Otto explained one occasion when Epple returned, got out of his uniform, got in the hot tub, and then redressed in his uniform and returned to work. Otto explained that, regardless of why Epple returned to the residence, when he was on duty, he would keep his ‘walkie talkie’ with him ‘in case he got called.’
Otto went on to claim that Epple regularly used cocaine, ecstasy and steroids during their hookups.
“Otto explained that whenever he was using the illegal narcotics in Epple’s presence, Epple also ingested the illegal narcotics,” the affidavit reads. “Otto explained that Epple would ‘shoot up’ in various places, to include the legs and triceps.”
Epple has not been arrested or charged with any crimes (yet). In his retirement letter, he said, “It has been a pleasure being of service to the Department, the City and County of Denver, and to my community.”
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Vince
Ha. I didn’t know that you could retire under those circumstances.
At any rate, sounds like he must have fucked over Otto at some point. That or we’ve now found the most bitter evil queen in the universe.
tnguy
Using drugs and alcohol is like Yin and Yang. We exchanged future consequences for short-term pleasure.
The harder the drug, the more frequent the use, the more prolonged the abuse, the worse and more severe our consequences in the future will be.
Elcaganer
Well at least you had intelligence to mention alcohol. Everyone thinks of X, Cocaine or Meth…but alcohol is responsible for many people dropping their inhibitions, their pants and throwing caution to the wind.
Juanjo
Interesting little article. I was under the impression that Denver, like many police departments, does routine, random drug screening of its employees.
Crystix
Curious when the last time you were drug tested for a job. Random drug tests may be policy, but most places only test when a workman comp claim or other “issue” of liability arises. Welfare recipients are drug tested far more than police, I bet.
NateOcean
Nope. Phoenix implemented random drug testing in 2006 after a dozen police and a dozen firefighters got nailed in a DEA sweep. But then in 2015 they terminated the policy claiming that it cost too much to test for steroids.
There was even something in the contracts that prohibited steroid testing.
What does that tell you?
Kangol
Hmm. Given that some people are serving prison time for possession of cocaine and MDMA, it’s telling that this cop was allowed to retire, despite a witness coming forward to say that he was using these drugs, shooting up, and so on.
In Colorado, it’s a crime to knowingly use, possess or sell cocaine, so Otto also is putting himself in legal jeopardy by telling the truth about this officer. MDMA possession in Colorado is a felony, while also being a federal crime.
Also curious to know why “husband” is in quotes above; was Epple’s partner not his legally married husband (you can marry someone of the same sex in all 50 states now) or even his short-term or long-term partner but just a fake stand-in, or what?
PinkoOfTheGange
The quotes come from Otto’s statement, so we need to ask him.
startenout
Between this and the Mayor’s son, it’s a tough time in Denver. lol
jacob4856
I believe Philip Epple is married to Brian Dougherty an advertising executive in Denver. I can’t imagine someone retiring from using drugs while on the job ‘protecting’ the public. How could he justify his actions. Why doesn’t Denver PD charge this man?