By Marshall Zellinger
The Denver Channel
DENVER, Colo. — A former Denver sheriff’s deputy told his wife he loved her as he was handcuffed and led off to jail on Friday.
Matthew Andrews was sentenced to the maximum, six years in prison, for helping an inmate escape. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant in November.
Defense attorney Dan Recht said Andrews is ashamed and embarrassed, but he truly had a feeling of being threatened.
Text messages obtained by 7NEWS reveal the deputy thought he was getting paid $500,000 to help Trujillo escape.
On the day of the escape, around 11 a.m., Andrews texts “All will go down around 8...I just want to know about the half that I need to get before all goes down.”
The response: “I wud realy apprecaiate (sic) if u kan bring hm at 8 and collect (sic) the whole 5 (meaning $500,000) Im inviting u to my house cop. we aint about gamez.”
Andrews dressed Trujillo like a sheriff’s deputy and they walked out of the jail together at 7:07 p.m. Then Andrews dropped Trujillo off in a Thornton neighborhood.
Full story: Text messages show former Denver County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Andrews aided inmate escape