COSTILLA COUNTY, Colo. A grand jury has indicted the Costilla County sheriff, undersheriff and three others including the sheriffs son in two separate cases alleging abuse of a corpse and excessive force on a man during a men tal health crisis.The 12th Judicial District Attorneys Office announced that a grand jury had issued indictments against five people. This included Sheriff Danny Sanchez, former Deputy Keith Schultz, Undersheriff Cruz Soto, Deputy Roland Riley and Sgt. Caleb Sanchez, who is the sheriff's son.The indictments were issued on Thursday.The charges involve two separate incidents: Sheriff Sanchez and former Deputy Schultz are accused of abuse of a corpse and official misconduct after the discovery of unidentified human remains. Undersheriff Soto, Sgt. Sanchez and Deputy Roland Riley are accused of assault and unlawful use of force on a person suffering from a mental health crisis.During a press conference Friday, 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne E. Kelly said all five individuals have turned themselves in and are expected to post bond. She explained that the indictments alone do not have the authority to removed elected officials and their deputies, as they are considered innocent until proven guilty in court.Kelly said she has always support law enforcement but to do that, she cannot ignore violations of community trust. She said her office, as well as county commissioners, are now working to restore trust."This office is not afraid to defend that trust... The Costilla County citizens deserve it," she said. "They deserve it.Watch her full press conference on these indictments in the video below. Press conference: DA holds presser after Costilla County Sheriff's Office indictmentsA community meeting is planned for April 2 at 6 p.m. at the Alamosa County courthouse.Denver7 has read through each of the five indictments and provided summaries of the cases below.Abuse of corpse, official misconduct caseSheriff Sanchez and former Deputy Schultz were both indicted on several counts of official misconduct and one count of abuse of a corpse.According to their indictments, a person called the district attorney's office on Aug. 18, 2025 about finding possible human remains on his property, near Wild Horse Mesa in Costilla County, back in October 2024. He explained that he had found "a small skull," teeth with dental work, and other remains, so he photographed the area, marked where they were found and reported the findings to the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, according to an indictment for former Deputy Schultz.The district attorney's office found the sheriff's office's dispatch notes from Oct. 2, 2024, which showed that Deputy Schultz had been dispatched to the area that day. Sheriff Sanchez had also responded.The sheriff "was only on scene briefly and was reported to be more interested in looking for arrowheads than investigating the human remains," the indictment reads.The indictment reads that the man who found the remains reported that the sheriff's office retrieved the skull, but left the rest of the remains on his property. They never returned to collect the rest, which were gone by August 2025 when he called the district attorney. In addition to the other remains, clothing and shoes were also left at the scene, the indictment reads.The report from the sheriff's office about their Oct. 2, 2024 visit to the scene a report that "was atypically short for this type of case" was not written until Dec. 31, 2024, the indictment reads. It was not approved until March 18, 2025.The report reads that Deputy Schultz had put "the bones" in a bag apparently a used paper grocery bag; not a forensic evidence bag, which would have labels and information about the evidence and left it unsecured on his desk while he went out on another call. The report read that the bag was gone when he returned. Sheriff Sanchez said he had transferred the bones and the Costilla County Coroner's Office had it, the document reads.The indictment says that the bag did not have multiple bones just the skull.The case was then closed.The indictment reads that "the investigative efforts of the sheriffs office were far below the standard of care, noting that the loss of the dental evidence was especially egregious."The remains were later transferred from the Costilla County Coroner's Office to the Alamosa County Coroner's Office for secure storage. They were submitted for analysis and autopsy.At an unknown time afterward, the sheriff's office agreed to request the assistance of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to collect the remains left at the scene, according to the indictment.An expert in crime scene analysis with CBI, whose name was redacted in the indictment, testified in front of the grand jury. She said the scene had been secured with crime scene tape by Colorado State Patrol between Aug. 18, 2024 when the property owner called the district attorney's office and the following day, when CBI arrived.There, several agents found human remains and clothing, "including a distinctive necklace and pendant," the indictment reads. No teeth were found. Cadaver detection dogs were used to find additional remains. Each piece of evidence was marked and a drone captured a photo of the entire scene. The items were all logged, bagged, sealed and documented.The crime scene analyst said those items were brought to the county coroner's office before they were transferred to a redacted location. The skull, which had been improperly stored, was also logged, sealed and documented before it was added to the rest of the evidence, the indictment said.A coroner from a nearby county also testified in front of the grand jury. He explained how coroners work with law enforcement. They typically share information, reports and photographs for a case, as the coroner "relies on law enforcement to collect evidence in a forensically sound manner in order to ensure the integrity and reliability of the evidence," the indictment reads.The coroner explained statutes that require law enforcement to contact a coroner as soon as they find human remains, and how the coroner is then granted "sole authority" over the remains, which must not be removed until the coroner has arrived and given permission to transfer them. He said a coroner will rarely give law enforcement permission to collect the remains on their behalf, as they can sometimes glean significant information from looking at the remains as they were found. A sheriff is responsible for communicating with a coroner, he said.The indictment said the sheriff's office's actions harmed the coroner's office investigation and showed disrespect to the deceased and their family.During her press conference on Friday, District Attorney Kelly explained that she has had concerns about how the sheriff's office handles evidence for at least a year.We are still facing challenges with our ability to get evidence from the Costilla County Sheriffs Office," she said. "That is something we are working very closely with the commissioners to try to address.Assault, unlawful use of force caseUndersheriff Soto, Sgt. Sanchez and Deputy Roland Riley are accused in a case involving a person who was suffering from a mental health crisis, according to the district attorney's office.Undersheriff Soto was indicted on two counts of failing to intervene, one count of third-degree assault, two counts of failure to report use of force and four counts of official misconduct. Sgt. Sanchez was indicted on counts of second-degree assault and third-degree assault.According to their indictments, an unknown employee with the Costilla County Sheriff's Office testified in front of the grand jury in this case. For clarity's sake in this story, he is referred to as Person A.Person A recalled receiving a report about a man who said his wife and children were missing. Person A responded to the scene to find a man on the property holding a sharp hunting arrow to his own neck and making suicidal statements. Sgt. Sanchez also responded to the scene, according to his indictment.It was clear to Person A that the man was having a mental health crisis, the indictment reads. Authorities were able to convince the man to drop the arrow and come with them to the sheriff's office.That man went into the sheriff's office with Sgt. Sanchez and left a short time later. Person A reported seeing the man, who was unarmed, walk away from Sgt. Sanchez, Undersheriff Soto, Deputy Riley and one other official outside the office.Body-worn camera footage from Sgt. Sanchez showed this as well, according to the indictment."After being told multiple times by deputies that going to the hospital would be 'voluntary,' (redacted) turned and started walking away from deputies," the indictment reads.Authorities chased him, even though the man "was not a threat or danger," the indictment reads, and "that he was free to leave under the circumstances." The man said in an interview later that he had confirmed that he was not under arrest, according to the indictment.Person A told the grand jury he then heard several Tasers being deployed, though he never heard any warnings, which is proper procedure. The man had at least three Taser barbs in him, the indictment reads. Four deputies were holding the man on the ground, yelling at him and handcuffing him. He had fallen face first on the pavement, the indictment reads.Sgt. Sanchez deployed his Taser twice, according to the indictment. Deputy Riley deployed his once. Undersheriff Soto witnessed the incident and "did nothing to stop" it, the document reads.A certified Axon Taser instructor testified in front of the grand jury that "this incident represented an excessive use of force," as there were no verbal warnings and the man had not committed any crime. Tasers should not be used if a person is trying to leave a situation and if there are no aggravating circumstances, the instructor said."He opined while one set of Taser probes would have been excessive in these circumstances, three sets of Taser probes was certainly excessive," the indictment reads.That should have been known to Sgt. Sanchez, Deputy Riley and Undersheriff Soto, the instructor added, and the undersheriff should have prevented the use of a Taser.Later, Person A learned that the man had suffered from a broken rib, which was confirmed through medical records, according to the indictment. Person A told the grand jury that he approached Sgt. Sanchez about the incident a few days later to explain that he thought that use of force was excessive and not necessary."Sgt. Sanchez replied that (Person A) was too new to understand what happened," the indictment reads.Person A made a report, but said he didn't see it documented anywhere else, according to the indictment, and the sheriff's office did not conduct an investigation into the use of force or refer it to an outside agency to investigate.Person A said he was locked out of the sheriff's office system where he could find their policies, which includes their use of force policy. After this, he provided his report to the district attorney's office.The district attorney's office requested all materials about this incident on March 13, 2026. The reports submitted by Sgt. Sanchez and Undersheriff Soto were both written on March 16 three days after the request and more than a month after the incident.Sheriff Sanchez did not appear to have any knowledge of this incident, according to the indictment."Officers have a duty to report excessive use of force by other officers within 10 days," the document reads. "Undersheriff Soto did not report this to Sheriff Sanchez in a timely manner. Officers have a duty to intervene when witnessing other officers using excessive force. Undersheriff Soto failed to live up to this duty."No criminal charges were ever requested against the man who was injured in this incident. ...read more read less