DENVER SHERIFF DEPARTMENT

INTERNAL AFFAIRS BUREAU

C ASE S U M M ARY
Case: S2017-0118

INCIDENT:
On September 25, 2017 the Denver Sheriff Department Internal Affairs Bureau (DSD
IAB) received an external citizen complaint from Mr. Efrem W. Carter via the Office of
the Independent Monitor (OIM). In his complaint, Mr. Carter indicated that he is an
African-American male and acquainted with DSD employee, Captain Kenneth Juranek.
Mr. Carter states that since Donald Trump became president he has noticed Captain
Juranek's postings and comments in social media contain negative comments about
African-Americans, Gays and Hispanic people. Further, Mr. Carter claims that Captain
Juranek has posted and/or commented on multiple images on the internet which
encourage hatred and discontent and contained evidence that Captain Juranek was a
“racist.” Mr. Carter also expressed his concern that Captain Juranek’s social media
postings and comments especially concern him due to his knowledge that he is a
member of the DSD and believes this behavior is unbecoming of a member of this
agency. Consequently, he is encouraging DSD Administration to force Captain Juranek
to resign or be terminated. Mr. Carter included in his complaint that he is aware that
Captain Juranek formerly served in the DSD IAB as an investigator and that he fears
that his relationships with members of the DSD IAB may result in his complaint to not
be acted upon appropriately and that no disciplinary action would be taken.

INVESTIGATION:
Included within this case and submitted for your review may be numerous
documents and materials, including audio and video recordings. For a complete
understanding of this case, it is necessary that all submissions be reviewed
in their entirety.

SUMMATION:
On September 26, 2017 Investigator Bruce Bolton of the DSD IAB was asked to
conduct an administrative investigation into Mr. Carter’s complaint. Investigator Bolton
conducted a thorough review of Mr. Carter’s complaint and subsequently telephoned
Mr. Carter who agreed to be interviewed by telephone. At approximately 2:54 p.m.
Investigator Bolton initiated a recorded interview with Mr. Carter and asked how it was
he and Captain Juranek became to know one another. Mr. Carter indicated that he is a
former employee of the DSD and got to know Captain Juranek as a coworker. He
stated that prior to this complaint he thought highly of Captain Juranek and considered
him an ally. Mr. Carter explained that after leaving employment with the DSD he

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 maintained a friendly relationship with Captain Juranek via ‘facebook’. He stated that he
had initially ‘friended’ Captain Juranek on facebook but that ever since Donald Trump
became president, he has noticed that Captain Juranek’s facebook page began to
include “very racist and derogatory” postings. When asked for a specific example of
this, Mr. Carter stated that after a hurricane recently hit Miami he saw a posting of a
picture of looters stealing property from stores with Captain Juranek’s comment that
read “I guess when you’re poor you have to steal or something like that.” The looters
that were in the photo were African-American. Carter went on to say that a lot of
Juranek’s postings were derogatory towards African Americans, Gays and Hispanics.
Later in the interview, Mr. Carter provided another example of Juranek’s racism which
was associated with a posting of a picture of NFL player Colin Kaeperick kneeling
during the playing of the National Anthem. This posting was accompanied by Juranek’s
comment that “no one would want him anyway.” Carter stated that it was these kinds of
postings and comments that he found to be insensitive to African Americans. It was the
frequency and insensitive nature of these comments that caused him to conclude that
Juranek is a racist. Consequently, Carter recently ‘unfriended’ Juranek on facebook so
that he wouldn’t continue to be exposed to this upsetting information.

Upon additional questioning, Mr. Carter was unable to provide any specific examples of
racist or other defamatory comments attributed to Captain Juranek’s facebook account.
He continued to express his concern that Captain Juranek, being a racist and anti-gay
individual, was in a position of power in the DSD jail system and feared for minority and
gay inmates over whom Juranek had power.

Investigator Bolton asked again if Carter could provide examples or specific words,
phrases or other discriminatory terminology appearing on Juranek’s facebook page and
he could not. Carter was asked if Juranek’s postings or comments contained readily
recognizable racial slurs or other more blatantly discriminatory comments and Carter
said, “No.” Carter clarified that Juranek is saying the same kinds of things that
President Trump is saying, not saying the words themselves but that “you can read
between the lines and figure out what his true meaning is. He’s very politically correct in
how he doesn’t say the ‘N’ word or calling ‘gays’ something else or Hispanics
something else. But the intent and just the information he gives out you can tell it’s very
racially motivated.”

Investigator Bolton asked if Mr. Carter might have any screen shots or print outs from
Juranek’s facebook page containing postings or comments that he found racially
discriminatory. He said he did not and that now he has ‘unfriended’ Juranek he doesn’t
have access to the account anymore. Carter stated that he has asked some friends
who still have access to Captain Juranek’s facebook page if they could provide this
type of information and agreed to forward this to my attention when it’s available. Mr.
Carter was unsure if Juranek’s facebook account is public or private. Mr. Carter stated
that the last time he actually spoke to Captain Juranek was about seven months ago
when Carter was applying for a job with Southwest Airlines and he asked Juranek to be
a personal reference for him. Juranek said, “Yes.”

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 Carter went on to say that Juranek’s postings were very pro Donald Trump and anti-
President Obama and that Juranek had posted a comment about Melania Trump acting
the way a first lady should act and not like the past one, meaning Michelle Obama.
Carter acknowledged that it’s alright for people to express their political feelings but that
he felt that Juranek’s postings were expressive of Juranek’s anti-African American and
anti-Gay and Hispanic biases. The interview was then concluded.

Investigator Bolton subsequently requested that DSD IAB Sergeant Anthony Mazzei
attempt to access Captain Juranek’s facebook page with a surreptitious investigatory
facebook account. Sergeant Mazzei found that Juranek’s account was not protected
and accessible by anyone with a facebook account. He was able to copy Juranek’s
facebook postings and comments to a thumb drive which Investigator Bolton reviewed
in detail. The postings appeared to be dated from June 23 to September 26, 2017. The
postings and comments contained evidence of Juranek’s pro-Trump political leanings
and disagreement with NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem. Investigator
Bolton didn’t locate any comments or postings that were specifically and directly
discriminatory, racist or anti-gay.

Investigator Bolton noted that Captain Juranek’s current facebook account did not
include any reference to his position with DSD nor did it contain any department logos
or other indication of his position with DSD. In addition to the previously described
posting and comments, there were numerous photos of Juranek fishing and camping,
NFL football players, family members and friends, etc…

There were a number of pro-American and pro-law enforcement postings as well as

postings associated with being a Broncos football and Rockies baseball fan. There
were postings of news reports associated with criminal activity much of which was
associated with African-American males and females. However, there were similar
articles associated with white criminals, corrupt politicians and police shootings.

Additional investigation and research was conducted to determine if Captain Juranek

was actively associated with any other social media sites with no such associations
discerned.

In reviewing all of the material on the thumb drive, Investigator Bolton could only
confirm that Captain Juranek and his friends’ postings and comments were politically
conservative, generally in support of President Trump and against liberal ideologies,
anti-Hillary Clinton and former president Obama but not expressly racially biased.
Additionally, some postings and comments on Juranek’s facebook page supported
enforcement of immigration laws and expressed support for immigration reform and
protection of U.S. borders that some people with differing views might find insensitive;
however, there were no explicitly derogatory or discriminatory comments regarding
Hispanics as a race or ethnicity.

Mr. Carter was contacted again on October 11, 2017 at which time Investigator Bolton
asked if he had followed up with other facebook account holders and if they had

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 provided any additional information concerning Captain Juranek’s allegedly
discriminatory postings or comments or if he had secured any screenshots or copies of
racially discriminatory or derogatory information which appeared on Captain Juranek’s
facebook page. Mr. Carter indicated that he had not secured any such information and
had not been back on to Captain Juranek’s facebook page since filing this complaint.

DSD Departmental Order 1545-1E provides guidelines for private use of social media
and employee conduct upon same. In reviewing information contained within Captain
Juranek’s personal facebook page, no violations of said order were identified. A copy of
this order and a PDF conversion of Captain Juranek’s facebook page have been
uploaded to IAPro for reference and review.

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