The man who was in charge of Colorado's parole division when the state's prisons chief was killed, allegedly by a parolee, was placed on paid administrative leave on Wednesday.
The decision to place Tim Hand on leave was made by Roger Werholtz, interim executive director for the Colorado Department of Corrections, DOC spokeswoman Alison Morgan said in an email. Morgan declined to say why.
"We do not discuss details of personnel decisions," she said.
The shakeup, the latest in a series of changes at the parole division, comes about two months after prisons chief Tom Clements was gunned down in the doorway of his Monument-area home.
Evan Ebel, a parolee who had slipped out of his ankle monitoring bracelet five days before the March 19 slaying, is the suspected gunman.
While the contractor that monitors parolees' ankle bracelets immediately notified the DOC that Ebel had triggered a tamper alert, a parole officer didn't try to call Ebel until March 16, and then contacted his father on March 18. An arrest warrant for Ebel wasn't issued until March 20 -- the day after Clements was killed.
Authorities also believe Ebel may have killed pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon in the Denver area two days before Clements' slaying and then posed as a pizza deliveryman to get Clements to open his door. Ebel was killed by Texas authorities in a March 21 shootout.
In a message to DOC employees, Werholtz said Steve Hager, warden of the Youthful Offender System and part of the parole division's senior management team, will step in as interim director.
"I would ask each of you to give Mr. Hager your full support and cooperation and to give Mr. Hand the support and consideration that he deserves," Werholtz wrote. "It is important that we remain focused on our primary responsibilities as we undergo the system reviews that are currently taking place."
Copyright 2013 - The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
