Broomfield District Court Judge F. Michael Goodbee let a police officer who raped a handcuffed woman he was supposed to be helping off easy, handing him just 90 days in jail plus only four years of probation on November 29.
Just ninety days in jail for sexually assaulting an intoxicated and handcuffed woman in his custody.
His victim now has PTSD as a result of being raped by Westminster police officer 41-year-old Curtis Lee Arganbright, according to the Denver Post.
Officer Arganbright brought his patrol car to a stop before ordering the intoxicated woman out of his vehicle and forcing her to have sex on the front of it while she was still handcuffed, according to his arrest affidavit.
Moments before being raped, the woman had admitted herself into St. Anthony North Health Campus Hospital for alcoholism before hospital staff began accusing her of attempting to steal items in the emergency room.
That’s when Arganbright was dispatched to the hospital to sort things out.
After arriving, Arganbright and the hospital came to an agreement not to press charges against the 36-year-old woman only if he would drive her home.
During that trip home in the early morning hours is when Argainbright sexually assaulted the woman.
She returned to the hospital the following day saying she’d been raped.
Detectives from the Broomfield Police Department were called to investigate and brought along a rape kit.
After the rape kit was performed, officer Arganbright was arrested and then placed on paid leave before he eventually resigned from the Westminster Police Department, a move bad cops often make in order to be eligible for jobs with other departments.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Trevor Moritzky refused to push the case to trial for felony rape charges.
Instead, in spite of his tough rhetoric, he offered the disgraced former cop a plea bargain with only 90 days of jail, if he pleaded guilty and agreed to register as a sex offender.
“The victim in the case was physically unable to be present for the sentencing hearing but her mother told the judge that her daughter was brutally raped and suffers extreme PTSD because of Arganbright’s actions,” a written statement from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Colorado said.
“Chief Deputy District Attorney Trevor Moritzky told the court that as a Westminster police officer, Arganbright was entrusted with protecting those most vulnerable in the community and that Arganbright abused that trust. He said Arganbright continued to blame the victim. Arganbright chose this victim because she was vulnerable, he said.”
But Broomfield District Court Judge F. Michael Goodbee, who had the only chance to refuse the plea bargain once it was agreed upon, signed off on the plea bargain Moritzky made with the state, which allows Arganbright to serve just 90 days in jail for raping a drunken handcuffed woman.
Moritzky used tough rhetoric to explain why he failed seek justice vulnerable member of the community attacked by a sworn, uniformed police officer, but has apparently failed to deliver.
And Judge Goodbee implied he was sending a tough message with his tough rhetoric to other officers to not rape vulnerable people in their custody and re-establishing trust with community members.
But he signed off on the sentence, finalizing it, allowing Arganbright to plead guilty to official misconduct and misdemeanor unlawful contact for raping a woman.
“Broomfield District Court Judge F. Michael Goodbee said that Arganbright had a duty to follow the law and failed to do so. When a peace officer abuses or misuses citizens, Goodbee said, this causes an erosion in the public’s view of the integrity of those involved in law enforcement and makes it harder for law-abiding peace officers to do their jobs,” the written statement from the DA’s office said.
“The victim in the case was physically unable to be present for the sentencing hearing but her mother told the judge that her daughter was brutally raped and suffers extreme PTSD because of Arganbright’s actions,” the statement says.
Westminster Police Chief Tim Carlson said Arganbright’s crime has had a “devestating impact” on other police officers working in the department.
“The alleged conduct described in this arrest sickens my soul,” Carlson told CBS in Denver.
“That it describes the conduct of an on-duty officer in my department has left me numb. The impact on the victim in this case is something I can’t begin to imagine.”
