Investigation of the police chief at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into the police chief at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo in late September, and the chief is “on leave” from his position, state officials told the chief.

Richard McMorran was escorted from the CMHIP campus after agents initiated a criminal investigation into the hospital at the request of the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services (CDHHS).

AnneMarie Harper, a spokeswoman for CDHHS, confirmed that McMorran is “on leave” and added that Deputy Chief Dave Ramirez will serve as acting chief on an interim basis.

“Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot release additional information at this time,” Harper said.

CBI spokesman Rob Low confirmed that agents had initiated a possible investigation at the request of CDHHS, but did not provide details of what the agency was investigating.

McMorran took over as police chief after his predecessor Luis Archuleta was similarly ousted in 2018 after serving as CMHIP police chief since 2009.

The reasons for Archuleta’s removal are unclear. State officials also declined to comment on Archuleta’s transfer to Chieftain in 2018, saying it was a personnel matter.

CMHIP is a 516-bed psychiatric hospital located on a 300-acre campus in Pueblo. It provides inpatient behavioral health services to adults, adolescents and geriatric patients, according to its website.

The state forensic hospital serves people with pending criminal charges that require a competency evaluation, people who have been found incompetent to proceed, and people found not guilty by reason of insanity in Colorado criminal courts.

More about CMHIP: A nurse manager at a Pueblo psychiatric hospital violated the Whistleblower Act by demoting an employee

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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Police chief at Colorado mental health hospital under investigation