LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — A former police chief in a small Colorado town has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing weapons from his department and its evidence room and then selling them to pawn shops.
Fifty-two-year-old Michael Robert Leake pleaded guilty Friday to charges of theft and providing false information to a pawnbroker.
Leake was accused of taking weapons from the city of Leadville, where he was chief from 2009 until he resigned in 2015.
John Bryan, spokesman for Lake County District Attorney Bruce Brown, says Leake faces up to four years in prison at his sentencing in February.
Bryan says Leake was also accused of taking a city-issued check for more than $2,200 for ammunition and depositing it in his own account.
Prosecutors began investigating in 2016 after other city officials noticed irregularities.