A Fremont County Sheriff’s Office employee has been placed on routine paid administrative leave after being accused of having an intimate relationship with a 17-year-old in 1999, a news release states.

According to a news release from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Bruce Briscoe, a patrol officer with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Officer, allegedly was involved with the now 35-year-old female while he was the DARE officer for Custer County High School.

The news release states Briscoe was placed on leave Feb. 10 pending an investigation from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.

Sgt. Detective Megan Richards, public information officer for FCSO, also confirmed Briscoe was placed on leave in an email Wednesday morning.

Briscoe was employed with the Custer County Sheriff’s Office from June 1996 through May 1999.

The FCSO did not respond to questions about the length of Briscoe’s employment with the department.

The CCSO became aware of the allegations by the Fort Collins Police Department after the female filed a report Feb. 2. The name of the alleged victim is unknown.

“There are very few details regarding the allegation available at this time,” the news release states.

The release also states that the District Attorney’s Office and CBI were both notified of the report by Custer County Sheriff Shannon Byerly.

Byerly also notified FCSO Sheriff Jim Beicker of the investigation on Feb. 10.

“He (Beicker) advised, in accordance with his internal policies, he would be placing Lt. Briscoe on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation,” the news release states.

Richards clarified in an email that Briscoe’s leave is not connected to the Candace Hiltz murder investigation, despite an online article from Pueblo Chieftain posted early Wednesday stating Briscoe was out of a job after evidence from the case was discovered.

The FCSO also is under investigation after evidence from the 2006 murder of Candace was discovered in a storage unit belonging to Lt. Robert Dodd.

Dodd, who was an investigator at the time of Candace’s murder, was placed on leave Jan. 16 after the evidence was discovered in Dodd’s former storage unit.

The evidence was discovered by Rick Ratzlaff in December and items included a hatchet, a rope and a blanket.

Ratzlaff obtained the evidence after he purchased the storage unit in an auction.

Since the evidence was discovered and made public, family members have been vocal about the case.

Candace’s mother, Dolores Hiltz, has said the investigators failed to do their job when her daughter was murdered.

She has said evidence wasn’t taken and that she wasn’t surprised at all that evidence from her daughter’s murder was discovered in Dodd’s storage unit and that the family has had suspicions for 10 years that Candace’s murder was covered up.

CBI has been investigating the evidence discovery since Jan. 3.

Susan Medina, public information officer for CBI, said that the murder investigation is still ongoing and that no new information regarding it is available at this time.

Medina also was unable to provide an additional information regarding Briscoe, except that this new investigation has no connections with the evidence investigation.

She said once CBI completes its investigation, the case will be turned over to the district attorney’s office.

Sarah Matott: 719-276-7648, matotts@canoncitydailyrecord.com