An ex-Colorado sheriff known for his no-nonsense style and a concern about teenage drug use is facing charges of offering methamphetamine in exchange for sex and was being held Wednesday at a jail named for him. 
 
 Dressed in an orange jail uniform and walking with a cane, a hand-cuffed Patrick Sullivan, 68, watched as a judge raised his bail amount to a half-million dollars and sent him back to the Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility. 
 
 Arapahoe County chief judge William Sylvester also told him not to contact anyone involved in the case. 
 
 Sullivan's arrest has many in the wealthy suburban Denver county where he held sway nearly three decades wondering what happened to the lawman who was once named the nation's sheriff of the year. 
 
 "This isn't the Pat I know," said Peg Ackerman, a lobbyist for the County Sheriffs of Colorado who often worked with him on legislation. She said he was concerned about drug use in schools and was a chief of security at a school district. 
 
 The current sheriff, Grayson Robinson, who worked as undersheriff for Sullivan from 1997 until he took over the job in 2002, said the department was shocked and saddened. 
 
 Robinson said the case is still under investigation, including where and how Sullivan might have gotten the drugs. He declined to say if authorities suspect Sullivan of using drugs, or if others might be charged. 
 
 Sullivan's attorney, Kevin McGreevy, did not return calls seeking comment. 
 
 Sullivan came to the attention of law enforcement after an Oct. 4 call to authorities from a home in Centennial, according to an arrest affidavit. The deputy who responded had worked for Sullivan and knew who he was. 
 
 After investigating further, the deputy learned from two confidential informants that Sullivan was dealing meth but would sell it only if they had sex with him, the document stated. He was arrested after police set up a sting at a home. 
 
 Deputies found that Sullivan had handed someone a bag of meth and had another bag on him when he was searched, according to the affidavit. Both bags weighed less than a gram. 
 
 Sullivan served as sheriff from 1984 until his retirement in 2002. In 2002, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo praised him on his retirement, citing Sullivan for among other things being named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff's Association. 
 
 While those who know Sullivan were puzzled by the news, some said they weren't surprised that a person of his stature could get involved. They said meth users will do almost anything to feed their habit and often hurt others in the process. 
 
 "This drug knows no economic, social, professional or occupational boundaries," said state Rep. Ken Summers, who served on a legislative meth task force. ||||| Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DENVER — Patrick Sullivan was the kind of lawman Coloradoans loved: a straight-shooting Republican sheriff who once crashed a Jeep through a fence to rescue two deputies from a gunman and pleaded with legislators to keep assault weapons off the street lest any more citizens get shot. 
 
 On Tuesday afternoon, though, investigators from the same sheriff’s department he oversaw for nearly two decades found themselves monitoring a home near Denver that Mr. Sullivan was seen entering. 
 
 Soon after, the police arrested Mr. Sullivan, now 68 and long retired from the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office, on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name. 
 
 “The Arapahoe County sheriff’s office is saddened, and this is a sad time for our community,” said Grayson Robinson, the current sheriff, who served under Mr. Sullivan. “But we have a greater purpose, to serve our community with integrity and professionalism, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with this investigation.” 
 
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 Sheriff Robinson said the police began an investigation into Mr. Sullivan’s activities on Nov. 17 after several people informed the authorities that he might be involved with methamphetamines. 
 
 The investigation led the police to a home on Tuesday where they say Mr. Sullivan had arranged to provide drugs to a man, a longtime associate, in exchange for sex. Mr. Sullivan was taken into custody without incident, Sheriff Robinson said. 
 
 According to a probable cause statement filed in court on Wednesday morning, two confidential informers told the police that they had engaged in sexual activity with Mr. Sullivan before, in exchange for methamphetamines or cash. 
 
 Word of the arrest shot through Arapahoe County, a sprawling suburban area near Denver, where Mr. Sullivan served as sheriff from 1984 to 2002. 
 
 “I just cannot believe this happened,” said Robert R. Gallagher Jr., a former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District in Colorado, which includes Arapahoe County. “This is not the Pat Sullivan I served with and respected so much. Something here doesn’t meet the eye.” 
 
 Steve Ward, a former state senator and past Arapahoe County commissioner, said he, too, was stunned by the news. 
 
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 “It’s like waking up and reading a headline that says ‘Scientists Have Now Determined the Earth Is Flat,’ ” he said. “It’s incomprehensible.” 
 
 Mr. Sullivan, whose dramatic rescue of his deputies in 1989 was captured on television, was named national Sheriff of the Year in 2001 and became a widely respected law enforcement figure here. 
 
 After the Columbine High School shooting near Littleton and his retirement, he became director of safety and security for the Cherry Creek School District, a position he held from 2002 to 2008. 
 
 “We are absolutely stunned at the news of Mr. Sullivan’s arrest and are fully cooperating with the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office,” Mary Chesley, the district’s superintendent, said in a statement. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan will face charges of “unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing or sale of a controlled substance,” punishable by up to six years in prison. Sheriff Robinson said he anticipated that additional charges would be filed. 
 
 At an initial court appearance on Wednesday, a judge raised Mr. Sullivan’s bond to half a million dollars from $250,000 at the urging of the local district attorney’s office. Sheriff Robinson said the request was made because of the nature of the accusations and the continuing investigation. 
 
 Calls to Mr. Sullivan’s lawyer were not immediately returned. ||||| Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan, right, with his attorney Jessica Schmidt, appeared in Arapahoe County Court, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, after being arrested on suspicion of trying to trade drugs to a man for sex. Sullivan's bond was raised from $250,000 to $500,000. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) 
 
 CENTENNIAL — Authorities began investigating former Araphoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan after a Centennial man called police in September and said "an old guy" was trying to get his roommates back into drugs and had been smoking methamphetamine with them, according to a police report. 
 
 When the Centennial man asked Sullivan to leave and said he was going to call 911, Sullivan told the man "If you want the police I am the police," the man told officers. 
 
 Sullivan later told detectives he is on a meth drug task force and helps recovering addicts get clean, according to another report. He also said he worked for the state health department's drug treatment office. 
 
 When police interviewed the three roommates, 
 
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 one of them said Sullivan has power of attorney for him. The 34-year-old man also said Sullivan cashes the man's Social Security checks, gives him cash from them, and takes the man shopping when needed. 
 
 A spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said this afternoon there is no record of Sullivan working there, or of the department having a meth treatment program. 
 
 The reports give the first insight into how a well respected, longtime law enforcment icon came to be standing before a judge this morning facing drug charges. 
 
 After a brief huddle with a prosecutor and defense attorney, a Judge William Sylvester this morning doubled Sullivan's bond from $250,000 to $500,000. 
 
 Prosecutor Karen Pearson would not comment on why she sought to increase the bond and Sylvester offered no explanation. He issued a mandatory protection order preventing Sullivan from having contact with any potential witness in the case. 
 
 An investigative report filed in court in support of Sullivan's arrest says officers from the South Metro Drug Task Force, including Arapahoe deputies, used confidential informants and audio and video surveillance in the investigation. 
 
 According to the court 
 
 papers: 
 
 After a complaint in early October to the Arapahoe sheriff's office that an "unwanted party" was at a home in Centennial, a deputy arrived and identified the person there as the former sheriff. 
 
 Agent Matt Hanagan of the drug task force was brought in to the case and asked two confidential informants who worked with the task force whether they thought they could purchase methamphetamine from Sullivan. Both of them said they had engaged in sex acts with Sullivan in the past and said they would be willing to ask him for meth in exchange for a sex act. 
 
 After several phone calls and text messages, Sullivan agreed to meet one of the men at an Aurora home and bring meth to exchange for sex. 
 
 Officers set up 
 
 Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan appears in court Wednesday with his attorney. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) 
 
 audio and video surveillance at the house and, Tuesday afternoon, Sullivan arrived and was seen to hand suspected meth to the informant. 
 
 He was taken into custody and officers found additional suspected meth — a total of 0.7 grams. 
 
 Sullivan was booked into the jail that bears his name on a charge of unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing or sale of a controlled substance. The Class 5 felony carries a penalty of up to six years in prison. 
 
 During this morning's brief hearing, Judge Sylvester asked Sullivan if he had any questions, and Sullivan said no. He kept his head down and leaned on a cane through the proceedings. He was handcuffed and wore an orange jail jumpsuit. No members of his family appeared to be in the courtroom. 
 
 Sullivan's attorney, Kevin McGreevy, declined to comment. 
 
 Sullivan is being held in the Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility. He was sheriff from 1984 until his retirement in 2002. 
 
 Sullivan retired from law enforcement to become director of safety and security for Cherry Creek Schools in 2002, retiring from there in 2008. 
 
 Former Arapahoe County Commissioner Jim Dyer, who was not on the commission when Sullivan was sheriff, said Tuesday night he was shocked when told of the sheriff's arrest. 
 
 "I knew he had a distinguished career," Dyer said. "I think he was a good guy. That's shocking. I am absolutely astounded." 
 
 Steve Ward, a former county commissioner who worked with Sullivan, said he "couldn't be more shocked." 
 
 Former Arapahoe County District Attorney Jim Peters, who worked with Sullivan, said the allegations against the former sheriff are "totally out of character" for the man he knew and are "hard to believe." 
 
 "He was completely ethical, upright and honest," Peters said. "He just oozed honesty and integrity. He was an outstanding sheriff." 
 
 Carlo Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
– Former Colorado Sheriff Patrick Sullivan may not be the only person who has a jail named after him, but he may be the only person to get thrown into a jail named after him. The 68-year-old is suspected of offering meth to a male in exchange for sex, reports AP. He was arrested after a sting at his home, and a judge just doubled his bail to $500,000, according to the Denver Post. Sullivan was sheriff of Arapahoe County from 1984 until he retired in 2002, and he was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff's Association in 2001. Before his arrest, he was best known for being a bit of an action hero: In 1989, Sullivan crashed his truck through a fence to rescue two deputies being held hostage by a gun-toting man, notes the New York Times.