A former Colorado Sheriff’s Deputy led a double life that saw him fake a bout with cancer to solicit cash from family and friends, it is claimed.
Now-fired and being held in jail, ex-El Paso County deputy Kevin Sypher, 57, was arrested in March over the alleged offense, after wedding a second wife in March 2023 while still married to his first.
He was reported missing twice last year, as cops say he mercilessly conned friends, family members and coworkers into giving him thousands of dollars in donation.
He instead spent the money on jewelry, vacations, and food, an arrest affidavit alleged – purchasing his second wife an engagement ring after already wedding another woman in California.
Sypher is facing charges of theft, charitable fraud, and official misconduct, as his ex-colleagues continue to probe the extent of his alleged crimes. He was fired in August 2023.
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ex-El Paso County deputy Kevin Sypher, 57, was arrested in March over the alleged offense, after wedding a second wife in March 2023 while still married to his first.
He was reported missing twice last year, as cops say he mercilessly conned friends, family members and coworkers into giving him thousands of dollars in donations ‘while living a double life’
‘This is an active ongoing investigation and further details will not be disclosed at this time,’ a statement from the El Paso County Sheriff’s this week read, as Sypher remained at the Teller County Jail.
An arrest affidavit tells the rest of the story – and how Sypher, who began working Sheriff’s Office in 2009 as a volunteer, allegedly duped colleagues and close friends alike to get what he wanted.
The documents describe how he allegedly defrauded his co-workers of $20,300 between March 2022 and March 2023, when he told at least seven of them that he had stomach cancer and was in the midst of a messy divorce.
His wife, he claimed, was jealous of a new relationship he had, and served him divorce papers while freezing his assets as a result.
The documents go on to allege that told colleagues he was unable to afford housing, food, or gas, before being terminated when he did not show up for work and ran out of paid time off in August 2023.
Most recently, he worked in the office’s Criminal Investigations Division, for a force that has some 541 sworn officers. He primarily worked at the county jail until a month before his abrupt departure.
On March 7, Sypher began a planned leave from work for a medical procedure that investigators later learned had nothing to do with his non-existent cancer.
He instead spent the money on jewelry, vacations, and food, an arrest affidavit alleged – purchasing his second wife an engagement ring after already wedding another woman in California .
Sypher had worked in the office’s Criminal Investigations Division, for a force that has some 541 sworn officers. He primarily worked at the county jail (pictured) until a month before his abrupt departure, after which he was fired for not turning up to work
Before they discerned that, however, Sypher asked for additional leave to recover, spurring staff to reach out to his doctor, officers wrote.
The doctor responded by telling them that he had not seen Sypher since a checkup scheduled for two weeks after the procedure the deputy decribed, while revealing he made no restrictions for him to return to work.
Not long after, on April 27, 2023, Sypher’s newly minted second wife, fellow Colorado cop Sara Clay, reported him missing from their Parker home, the affidavit states.
She reported he had walked away from the home carrying trash bags , spurring a search where the only lead was grainy surveillance footage of the deputy doing just that.
She told investigators he left his wallet on the bed and had signed his car’s title over to her daughter, a month after marrying in March.
The day before his approved leave, another colleague of Sypher’s filed a formal complaint about him to Internal Affairs – after Sypher allegedly emailed and texted him to ask for help with a crisis negotiation training scenario.
The documents allege the man agreed – since Sypher was a deputy sheriff and taught classes on the subject of crisis negotiation.
on April 27, 2023, Sypher’s then newly minted second wife, fellow Colorado cop Sara Clay, reported him missing from their Parker home, the affidavit states. She reported he had walked away from the home carrying trash bags
This a search where the only lead was grainy surveillance footage above, after which officers honed in on his alleged antics
The colleague recalled to investigators how on March 6, 2023, Sypher emailed him a script, disclaiming that he’d be getting a call from a woman named Sara who would be playing the role of his wife.
During the ensuing phone call, Sypher allegedly had the colleague tell his wife he had ‘five stromal tumors localized near the pancreas,’ and was scheduled for surgery tomorrow.
The colleague said he reported the incident because Sypher used his official capacity to “mislead him’, believing he was participating in a legitimate crisis call scenario.
The unnamed officer also claimed the call could ‘potentially compromise his physician licensing and integrity’ as a Colorado law enforcement officer, leading Internal Affairs began investigating Sypher.
Meanwhile, Sypher was already married to another woman in California – a Jody Sypher, according to the official court documents.
The affidavit described how he had his paycheck deposited into their joint account each month, and how one colleague who thought the two were divorced called her out of respect when Sypher went missing last April.
Sypher is facing charges of theft, charitable fraud, and official misconduct, as his ex-colleagues continue to probe the extent of his alleged crimes. He was fired in August 2023
Investigators found that the former sheriff’s deputy used the donations from falsely claiming he had cancer to pay for a trip to Florida, go out to dinner, buy items at Amazon and Home Depot
This led him learn the two were still married, and that she was planning to come to Colorado to search for him, the document states.
Investigators soon found that the former sheriff’s deputy used the donations to ‘live a double life,’ paying for a trip to Florida, going out to dinner, buying items at Amazon and Home Depot and even purchasing his second wife an engagement ring.
When interviewed, his second wife – who worked with Sypher – told investigators she believed Sypher had persuaded her to marry him as one of his ‘last dying wishes’.
She later filed to have the marriage invalidated.
Sypher married her just one month before disappearing, during which the deputy swore under oath that he was not married, cops wrote.
He also told colleagues he didn’t know how he’d afford the wedding, investigators claimed – in what they alleged was fishing expedition for more money.
They go on to recall that Clay told investigators she paid for the wedding herself and that Sypher took an envelope of money full of cash the two received as wedding gifts right before he disappeared from their Parker home last April.
He turned up days later at a hotel in Greenwood, Colorado.
The affidavit described how he had his paycheck deposited into their joint account each month, and how one colleague who thought the two were divorced called her out of respect when Sypher went missing last April. He turned up days later at a hotel in Greenwood, CO
The internal affairs (IA) investigation into Sypher began a monther earlier, in March 2023, after the doctor call.
Between March 2022 and March 2023, Sypher allegedly stole more than $20,000 in cash – None of which went to pay for cancer treatments or living expenses.
His next court date is slated for June.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Clay for comment.