Why not? Reportedly because a victim in the case refused to testify against her.
“The victim is adamantly opposed to testifying and is asking that the people not enforce her subpoena,” according to a motion written by 18th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Jacob Adkins and accessed by the Denver Post. “The people could not prove the charges in this matter without the victim’s testimony. Under these circumstances, the people do not believe that forcing the victim to testify would serve the interest of justice.”
Criminal charges against Jeremy Ownbey had previously been dismissed — but he was suspended from the Denver Police Department for ninety days because of his actions.
For more details, see our previous coverage below.
Original post, 6:23 a.m. April 11: Back in June 2014, Denver police officer Jeremy Ownbey and his wife, Jamie, were among a richly deserving group of nominees as Schmucks of the Week.
The reason: They faced charges as a result of a brawl that took place at a swingers' get-together with Steven Sloan, another Denver cop, and his wife, Stephanie.
The accusations against Jeremy were subsequently dropped, while the ones related to Jamie are still pending.
Still, Jeremy didn't get off scot-free. As revealed in a letter on view below, he has been suspended from the Denver Police Department for ninety days due to his actions.
As we reported, Jeremy and Steven were said to be best friends who entered the police academy together and even took joint vacations.
According to a May 2014 Aurora Police Department report, they also shared other things — specifically, their spouses
An excerpt from the report:
Jamie stated she, Jeremy and Steven have been involved with swinging (amongst themselves) and Steven would like Stephanie (Sloan) to join but she (Stephanie) will not. I asked Jamie (Ownbey) if she had ever been personally intimate with Steven (Sloan), she stated 'yes, during a swing session with Steven and his ex-wife years ago.' Jamie further stated she also participated in two swing sessions with Steven and Jeremy, the most recent was approximately four years ago.The police document's narrative also included info about Jamie shedding her top to expose her "lacy undergarments" and supposedly force-feeding Stephanie tequila shots.
The beverages didn't lead to love.
The report maintained that Sloan "started to fight with Jeremy, with both of them throwing punches at each other.... He admitted to not winning the fight, and after being punched numerous times in the head, he felt as if he was going to lose consciousness."
As such, Sloan "went to get his gun from his truck because he was in fear for his safety and thought he was in danger," the document continued. "Steven stated he punched Jamie in the face for punching Stephanie, and Jamie fell to the ground. Jeremy punched Steven in the face for punching Jamie. Steven stated he then punched Jeremy."
After that, Steven ordered Jeremy to leave. But Jeremy didn't split until a 911 call was made — and by the time he returned, Aurora police officers were on the scene.
There was initially doubt about whether any of these events would result in criminal charges.
Although the APD submitted the case to the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office with a recommendation of several charges against the Ownbeys, weeks passed with no action taken.
But after the case went public, with CBS4 breaking the news first, the logjam miraculously broke. Jeremy and Jamie were hit with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, because they left their two small kids at home during the festivities.
Plus, Jamie was accused of misdemeanor assault, while Jeremy faced a trespassing beef.
The criminal allegations against Jeremy fell away by the end of 2014. But Jeremy has been suspended for lying to investigators, as described in this passage from a disciplinary letter obtained by the Denver Post.
By the way, "IAB" stands for "Internal Affairs Bureau."
When Aurora police officers contacted him, Officer Ownbey was uncooperative. When he did agree to talk to the officers, he gave two different versions about why he returned to the Sloan residence. He said he came back to the scene because he heard police sirens and knew that they were coming to the Sloan residence because of the incident. Then he said that he had returned to retrieve his cell phone. When he was asked if he was intoxicated, Officer Ownbey lied to the officers about the state of his intoxication. Officer Ownbey told Aurora officers that he was drunk. During the DPD IAB interview, Officer Ownbey stated that he was not drunk and admitted that he had lied to the Aurora police. He stated that he told the Aurora police that he was intoxicated so that they would believe his version of the incident. Officer Ownbey made other misrepresentations. He told teh officers that Detective Sloan had pointed the gun at him and threatened to kill him. He also stated that this was between him and Detective Sloan. When he was informed by Aurora officers that a report would be made and that DPD IAB had been notified about the incident, Officer Ownbey told the Aurora officers that he would lie to the DPD Internal Affairs Bureau about his claim that Detective Sloan had pointed a gun at him.Jeremy is expected to be back on the job on July 15. Here's the letter in its entirety.
Jeremy Ownbey Discipline Letter.pdf
