Cocaine on job but no jail

But cocaine cost Broomfield County assessor her job

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 31, 2007 at midnight

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BROOMFIELD - The "odd long snorts" coming from Broomfield County Assessor Vickie Brown's cubicle aroused her coworkers' suspicions.

Their decision to do some sleuthing led to Brown's admission that she brought cocaine to work and to her resignation from the $83,054-a-year job she's held since 2004.

Despite her admission, law enforcement officials said Monday they don't have grounds to charge her with a crime.

The drama began in the late morning of June 26, when one of Brown's seven employees, who shares a cubicle wall with her, walked around to speak with her boss in person.

"I think I surprised Vickie," appraisal technician Linda Frazier wrote in her statement to police. "Vickie's back was to me and she had a bunch of white powder in front of her that had spilled on her desk and Vickie was holding a small white paper envelope. Vickie immediately turned around and blocked my view."

Later, when Brown was at lunch, Frazier and a co-worker, Revenue Manager Kim Pfeifer, walked back into Brown's cubicle and saw "smears and white residue" on her desk.

"The next day Kim said she heard something like odd long snorts coming from Vickie's office," Frazier told police. "Again that day when Vickie was at lunch, we looked at that part of her desk and there were new smears over the old smears. Again with a white-looking dust."

Pfeifer reported her and Frazier's suspicions to Jill Johnson, superintendent of facility operations. After some discussion, Johnson went to Brown's cubicle after work that day, scraped the top of her desk with a razor blade, and put the trace of white powder residue she found into an envelope for safekeeping.

Two weeks later, Johnson gave the envelope to Brown's boss, Finance Director Greg Demko, who forwarded it to Broomfield Police Chief Tom Deland.

That same day, July 12, an officer performed a field test on the powder, which came up "presumptive positive" as cocaine. But such a small trace of powder had been collected that the officer had to use it all on the field test, Deland said.

Police next searched Brown's cubicle with a drug-sniffing dog.

"K-9 Aaron alerted on several areas, but no drugs were found," officer Brian Gardner wrote in his report.

Brown, 49, had called in sick that day, so two officers interviewed her at her Broomfield home.

After initially denying the accusations, she admitted bringing cocaine to work June 28, but only by accident.

"I was going through my purse at work, found a piece of paper folded up and remembered it was there from the weekend before," Brown wrote in her statement to police. "I was at a friend's house over the weekend, there was cocaine there, and it was placed in my purse for someone else to use.

"It was a very small amount. I opened it at work forgetting it was there, must have spilled on the countertop. I do not use cocaine at home and especially not at work. I am very embarrassed that I let this happen."

Asked by police who put the cocaine in her purse, Brown said, "I am not sure who put it there. There were at least 10 people there."

The next day, Demko brought Brown into his office and told her he had the police report.

"I asked her what she wanted to do. She said, 'I think I'll resign,' " Demko said. Brown's resignation took effect immediately. She did not receive a severance package.

Brown could not be reached for comment Monday.

She was hired by the city in 2001. As assessor, she was in charge of assessing and valuating all commercial and residential property in Broomfield, worth about $6 billion, Demko said.

Senior appraiser John Storb has been named acting assessor.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059

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