AURORA| A former Douglas County Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to probation and two months in jail last week after she pleaded guilty to buying her boyfriend, who was a felon, a gun so he could protect himself while selling marijuana.
The former deputy, 36-year-old Bianca Roberts, was indicted late last year for allegedly buying her boyfriend, Joshua Tisch, a 9mm pistol for protection as he dealt marijuana, according to a press release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The indictment in the case was not immediately available, according to a court clerk.
The couple first met while Tisch was an inmate at the county jail and Roberts was a deputy assigned to work there, according to the district attorney’s office.
Roberts pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including at least one felony, in Douglas County District Court Dec. 17.
“Purchasing a firearm for a felon to protect himself from the dangers of illegal drug dealing is inexplicable and unjustifiable,” George Brauchler, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, said in a statement. “The good men and women who serve in uniform don’t want these bad apples amongst them, and citizens deserve better from those tasked with protecting them.”
Roberts also pleaded guilty to violating her bond after officials found she had spoken to Tisch more than 300 times on the phone, despite the court ordering the couple to have no contact while the case wound through the legal process.
A judge sentenced Roberts to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
“This is truly a case of ‘just desserts,’” Gary Dawson, the chief deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “Now she is a two-time felon, serving a sentence as a prisoner in the very jail in which she was employed as a deputy.”
After pleading guilty to a felony weapons charge, Tisch was sentenced to a year in prison.