A Denver police officer has resigned from the force after he was investigated on suspicion of using cocaine and marijuana.
Kevin Osborne, who was assigned to the police information desk, became a target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which believed Osborne was getting drugs while frequenting a house in Lakewood. Osborne learned the FBI was at the house one night last month and visited to find out what was going on, driving an unmarked Denver police car there, a person familiar with the investigation said.
Federal authorities confronted him at the house, and Osborne fled in the vehicle, prompting authorities to chase him.
He resigned from the Denver police force June 24 after federal authorities told him that if he did not do so, they would pursue criminal charges, people close to the investigation confirm.
Kathy Wright, a spokeswoman with the FBI, and Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Denver, declined comment. Osborne's lawyer, Michael Lowe, also declined comment.
Denver Safety Manager Al LaCabe said he was not aware of the details that led to a decision not to criminally charge Osborne. He said that the Police Department brought an end to an internal affairs investigation into Osborne's activities after Osborne resigned.
It was not the first time Osborne had been in trouble at the Police Department. In 2004, LaCabe suspended Osborne for 18 days and ordered him to work four days without pay for false reporting, failing to obey an order and "departing from the truth" in connection with an affair with an intern.
