Former Lake County Undersheriff Fernando Mendoza Heads to Jail
Former Lake County Undersheriff Fernando Mendoza was sentenced to fifteen months in county jail on April 26, for his attempt to commit first-degree aggravated incest and invasion of privacy of his former stepdaughter. Mendoza also faces an indeterminate sex offender probation of ten years to life.
Mendoza was first terminated from the Leadville-based Lake County Sheriff’s Office in November 2017, after three LCSO dispatchers accused him of sexual harassment. The dispatchers’ allegations against Mendoza included a litany of inappropriate comments and actions, most of them of a sexual nature.
“I thought I got the job because I earned it,” dispatcher Chelsa Parsons told investigators. “I question that now. I think he saw me as a victim. He saw all of us as easy prey.”
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