Citizens circulate letter urging Ouray Police Department leader Jeff Wood to step down

A group of citizens is calling for the resignation of Ouray Police Chief Jeff Wood, who remains on paid administrative leave in the wake of allegations that his stepson and two other men sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at Wood’s home while the chief and his family slept.

Ouray resident John Kissingford read a letter to the City Council Monday night that has so far been signed by 26 people consisting of local residents and business owners. Kissingford said he anticipates more citizens signing it.

The letter, addressed to Wood, recognizes the chief for approaching his duties “with a high degree of sincerity and competence, born out of many years of public service.” But it claims there was a pattern of underage drinking taking place at his home for many years and that the alleged assault that occurred in May 2023 is a “culmination of this pattern.”

“The fact that your underage stepson felt at liberty to host drinking parties in the home of the chief of police, the fact that the home of the chief of police is not a safe place where lawful behavior can be assumed, is enough to provoke doubt in your ability to keep the rest of the town safe,” the letter says.

The letter notes Wood’s paid adminis- trative leave is expected to continue until the cases involving the three defendants are completed, and it says nobody knows better than Wood that the legal process could take years to complete.

Meanwhile, the letter says, the city is forced to carry the burden of his salary without the benefit of his work and proceed with an interim chief without being able to fill the job permanently.

“You could save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and improve public safety by resigning your post. We imagine that this course would be in line with your central value of service to the community, and urge you to do so,” the letter concludes.

Wood’s stepson, 17-year-old Nate Dieffenderffer, and two other men, 18-yearold Ashton Whittington and 20-year-old Gabriel Trujillo, were arrested on felony sexual assault charges in December. Prosecutors have charged Dieffenderffer, who is now 18, as a juvenile, though Dieffenderffer’s attorneys are attempting to return the case to juvenile court.

City Administrator Silas Clarke placed Wood on paid administrative leave on Jan. 29, saying at the time the chief would remain away from his job until the criminal cases are resolved. Wood continues to receive his full annual salary of $133,912. Sgt. Gary Ray is serving as acting police chief.

The letter urging Wood to resign follows similar overtures from other Ouray County residents. The Plaindealer has published two letters to the editor since January calling for Wood’s resignation.

Others in the community have backed the chief, noting he’s not accused of any criminal wrongdoing and claiming calls for his ouster are premature.

Kissingford’s wife, Kate, who also signed the letter, told councilors Monday she believed Wood’s resignation was the only course, “given our litigious society.”

Reading from prepared remarks, she said she also wanted to call out what she believes is “morally wrong” — that the public is being forced to accept that Wood gets to keep his job and continue collecting a paycheck, “even though Chief Wood literally fell asleep on the most important job he’ll ever have, parenting, with a disastrous outcome, and even though he has a pattern of allowing underage drinking in his home.”

She pointed to statistics from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network that claim only 25 out of every 1,000 perpetrators of sexual assault go to prison.

“The judicial process cannot morally be the means by which our community decides the culpability of the perpetrators.

Our justice system is great at some things and utterly fails victims of sexual assault,” she said, noting the case of Brian Scranton, a Ridgway man who is facing sexual assault charges six years after a jury found him not guilty of a similar crime.

Kate Kissingford asked Mayor Ethan Funk and councilors to acknowledge those “facts” when they ask for the public’s patience and for the legal process to play out, as Funk did earlier this year in response to overtures from citizens to take action against Wood “The choice to ‘let it play out’ is not because the judicial system will unfailingly yield a factual determination of what actually occurred in his home,” she said.

“It is because it is the legally expedient thing for the city to do. In acknowledging this, the council would be taking a small step toward essential moral leadership and informing the community about the reality of sexual assault and the judicial system.”

In an interview Tuesday, John Kissingford said he wrote the letter Friday and just started circulating it in the community.

“Most people that I talked to were pretty eager to sign it,” he said. “They read it and were like, ‘Yeah, there isn’t much to argue with here.’” He said he intends to make sure the letter gets into Wood’s hands once 50 residents have signed it.

Wood did not respond to a request for comment from the Plaindealer by Wednesday.