LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — In July, Armando Saldate III was appointed to be Director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation by Governor Jared Polis, taking the position after he was the Executive Director of the Denver Department of Public Safety.
In about 30 years of serving in public safety and law enforcement roles, Saldate said he spent a lot of his career in investigations. He told FOX31 this job was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he wasn’t blind to the headlines and controversy surrounding CBI coming in.
“Having known the reputation of CBI, working around CBI, and in this state, it really was attractive. But I also came in knowing and seeing the headlines and understanding it was a difficult time for CBI,” Saldate said. “So, there was two callings: One was I felt that I could help, and secondly, it truly is a dream job and it provided an opportunity. I’m only the 12th director in its history, and so I’m being part of that history and really coming in at an integral time for the agency is something that really drew me to it.”
FOX31 asked Saldate how he plans to help CBI.
“Through accountability, transparency, openness and reliability,” Saldate said. “One of my mantras has always been show up. Show up physically. Be there. So that is something that has been paramount to me, is coming here and listening to employees, engaging with employees. And what’s been interesting from that, and I’ve been here six weeks now, is I’ve really heard of all the good work that they’re doing and continue to do through the controversies, through the adversity, through the struggles.”
One of the struggles is the controversy surrounding Yvonne “Missy” Woods, a former forensic scientist who faces more than 100 criminal charges related to criminal misconduct in her work with CBI. FOX31 asked if there are innocent people in jail due to her actions while working at CBI.
“That was actually one of the first questions when I landed in the seat on my day one,” Saldate said. “I talked with the staff here. I talked with the director of the lab. And that was a question I asked each and every one of them was, ‘Do we know or have we been able to review to the point where we can definitively say that we do not think that folks are sitting in jail unjustly because of what Missy Woods did or didn’t do? Are there people that are wrongly in jail?’ And the answer I received with a lot of clarity has been absolutely not.
“We do know that she had a long career with us but to the best of our ability and how we’ve reviewed that, we’ve not seen that that is the case,” Saldate added. “And we have reviewed cases. We’ve had seen problems in cases, but not to the point where someone is sitting wrongly in jail. I hope we can continue to say that and that nothing is ever learned that changes that.”
Saldate was questioned about accountability after the Woods investigation, whether there are more “double checks” of each case that passes through the office.
He said there have been intentional systems put into place that have third-party review, allowing for the reliability of CBI’s forensic lab.
“We’re not waiting for Missy Woods’ trial to be done,” Saldate said. “Those are things that were put in right away — Those have been review processes that are some of the most scrupulous in the country. What we’ve also engaged with is lab directors and experts from around the country that have also participated in telling us about their best practices and looking at and giving us advice.”
An independent assessment of CBI’s forensic services section came out shortly before Saldate started with a number of suggestions, including a potential transition for the division to work under the Colorado Department of Public Safety, instead of CBI.
“I think we’ve put a target of a timeline of its implementation,” Saldate said. “If we can get it through and get it appropriated, that we would try to have it implemented next summer. That’s kind of where we’re targeting it.”
FOX31 asked Saldate if the change feels like a loss.
“It is. It is something that, you know, I have loved working with the team here,” he said. “It’s incredible the work that they’ve done to improve and assess. But I also think it’s important to listen to the feedback and listen to this.”
Saldate told FOX31 the concept of separating a lab from a law enforcement agency is not new to him, having served in Denver, where there is a lab and police department.
“And let’s look at the alternative that funds aren’t appropriated or something changes, I am and I would be happy to continue leading them and continue to lead this reemergence and reestablishing of the trust of the lab,” Saldate said.
Another big headline with CBI has been a crippling backlog the agency is battling, made worse by the Missy Woods scandal. With hiring and training new analysts and outsourcing kits, CBI is now on track to meet a 90-day turnaround goal by next September. Originally, the agency aimed to reach that goal by spring 2027.
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