Rocky Mountain News staff writers Jeff Kass, Kevin Vaughan and Lynn Bartels report in an article titled, “Jeffco vows to find who leaked photos.” Excerpt:
Employees in the Jefferson County sheriff’s department will be given lie detector tests in the coming days as officials try to determine how more than 60 secret Columbine High School crime scene photos were leaked.
Sheriff John Stone and Undersheriff John Dunaway will be at the head of the line.
“If it’s necessary to use the polygraph to resolve this matter, I’ll take the first one, and the sheriff certainly will do so as well,” Dunaway said.
He said neither he nor Stone, the only two officials with the authority to release any of the 10,000 or so crime scene photos, had done so.
“I would resign in a heartbeat over an issue like that,” Dunaway said of allegations the photos were intentionally leaked.
Two years ago, Stone and Dunaway incurred the wrath of Columbine families when they allowed a Time magazine reporter to watch videos taped by Klebold and Harris after refusing to let the families see them.
At least two internal affairs investigators have been assigned to the case, launched Tuesday after a Rocky Mountain News report. Dunaway said two photos faxed to him by the News appear to be authentic.
Investigators will compile a list of dozens “who may be asked to cooperate with this investigation,” spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said. She said it’s unclear how many may submit to a polygraph test.
“We aren’t lining people up like cattle,” she said.