Adams County has terminated five longtime employees after an internal investigation revealed they transferred prescription drugs among themselves on county property.

On March 26, county officials received information that prescription drugs were being distributed among several county employees in the Human Services Department on county property. County officials turned the information over to the North Metro Task Force and a criminal investigation began.

In May, Department of Human Services employees Trisha Segura and Justina Lucero were terminated as a result of the investigation.

Three other Department of Human Service employees, Michelle Olguin, Pamela Aragon and Rebecca Houston, were placed on administrative leave while the investigation continued.

Olguin and Aragon were terminated on Aug. 22, and Houston was terminated on Aug. 27.

All five employees had been employed by the county for at least six years and, as income-maintenance specialists, were responsible for establishing eligibility for food assistance and family Medicaid.

“These are always serious matters, and Adams County worked diligently to pursue the information that we had and coordinate with law enforcement, so we could proceed in a timely fashion,” Robinson said. “As the government, we have to be careful that we don’t violate constitutional rights, but we also have to be aware of our responsibility to taxpayers to make sure we investigate these things in the best way that we can.”

He said there is no reason to believe there are more people involved or any distribution was taking place among people served by the county.

The investigation also prompted Xerox-owned ACS, which provides information-technology services to the county, to place one of its county-contracted employees on administrative leave. As of Sept. 17, calls placed to ACS had not returned.

Krista Flannigan, Adams County District Attorney’s Office public information director, said all six former county employees were screened and determined to be eligible for county diversion programs. Flannigan said she was unable to provide details and conditions of their contracts, but said the District Attorney’s Office may dismiss their charges if they comply with all the conditions in their diversion-program contracts.