CANON CITY, Colo. – A former sheriff’s deputy found guilty for putting murder evidence from a cold case in a private storage locker was ordered to serve 15 days in jail.
A judge sentenced retired Fremont County deputy Robert Dodd to 180 days in jail but suspended much of the jail time. Dodd was also ordered to pay $1,000 dollars in fines.
“What they sentenced him with does not fit the crime committed,” Heather Hiltz, sister of Candace Hiltz who was murdered, said. “We’ll never know who killed her daughter and my sister and our family member because of him.”
In late 2016, a man purchased that storage unit through an auction and made an unsettling discovering while sifting through its contents.
“I noticed envelopes that said ‘evidence’ on them, Rick Ratzalaff said. “At first I didn’t think it was that big until I started pulling out shell casings and hatchets … what really fazed me was when I pulled out bloody clothes.”
It was all evidence from the 2006 murder of Candace Hiltz, Ratzlaff would later learn. The man allegedly holding the evidence was Lt. Robert Dodd with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.
Dodd was placed on paid administrative leave and retired a few months later.
The retired deputy was found guilty of abuse of public records and two counts of official misconduct back in June 2018.
Dodd’s attorney told 11 News they plan to appeal the sentence.
“Anytime you have an officer being sentenced you have those issues of public trust,” Robert Dodd’s attorney Randal Jorgensen said. “I think those are the issues this judge dealt with. Obviously we’re disappointed with a jail sentence, but all things considered, the percentages I think are such that we’re going to be okay.”
Candace Hiltz’s family said it’s not right that Dodd was ordered to serve about 10% his sentence.
“Disgusted, but I expected this because he didn’t get the felonies he deserved,” Candace’s mother Dolores Hiltz said.