Ryan Kamada, the former Weld District Court judge who pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal felony charge for obstructing an investigation into a local drug trafficking ring, was disbarred this week by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court.
Documents from the office’s proceedings show Kamada’s misconduct was not limited to his leaking details about the 2019 investigation to a friend who was involved. Kamada was appointed as a Weld County magistrate in May 2015. During that time, he maintained long-running text message chains with his friends, according to court documents.
Kamada in late 2016 and early 2017 bought marijuana from a longtime friend, the documents state. The friend referenced in the documents appears to be Geoffrey Chacon, to whom Kamada leaked information about the 2019 investigation. Chacon shared information with others involved in the trafficking, helping investigators trace the source of the leak back to Kamada.
In September 2016, Chacon asked Kamada to look up information about someone. Kamada responded to the man in question “wasn’t convicted of the sex assault but he was on other charges and ended up in (expletive) prison man.” The text went on to say the man in question was having sexual relations with a minor and giving her cocaine.
“Don’t say anything man,” Kamada wrote.
In December 2016, Kamada referred to a former client by name in a group chat with his friends, saying he did her custody proceedings.
“If that kid lives I’ll be shocked,” he wrote.
In March 2018, Kamada discussed a pending dependency and neglect case in the group chat. A friend asked whether the parent involved had a warrant, and Kamada said he didn’t find one but he hadn’t checked hard, according to court documents.
The next day, that same friend sent a group chat a photo of two children who were reported missing. Kamada went on to talk about details of the family, including that the mother was found overdosed.
“When we get those kids back I’m gonna let that (expletive) have it,” he wrote. “That (expletive) is gonna get forced sobriety. AKA jail.”
Kamada also thrice sent a group of friends photos depicting his desk and case management screen, which showed case numbers, litigants’ names, events and document titles. In November 2018, he repeatedly used profanities in the group text to refer to a lawyer who had a dependency and neglect case before him, a case for which that lawyer apparently wasn’t prepared.
On Jan. 8, 2019, then-Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed Kamada to succeed Elizabeth Strobel as Weld District Court judge. That same month, Chacon asked about someone taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kamada tried looking up the case, but could not find it. He surmised it was a federal case, according to court documents.
Also that month, Kamada presided over a divorce proceeding and sent a photo of the first page of the decree of dissolution to his friends. Kamada said he was “going to grant this today so she is free game tomorrow night,” court documents state.
Kamada also told a friend he had the friend’s brother-in-law in court, including a photo of a party involved in a custody battle. The photo was not the friend’s brother-in-law. Still that same month, Kamada sent the group a photo of a father and a child, saying, “check out the dad in my trial today.”
Finally, court documents noted Kamada’s leak about the 2019 drug trafficking investigation involving Alberto “Beto” Loya. Loya was sentenced in June to serve 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, a Class 1 drug felony, and conspiracy to money launder, a Class 4 felony. He originally faced 21 charges but made a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Kamada resigned from the district court judge position a day before Greeley police announced Loya’s indictment and the arrest of some of his associates. A few days later, he formed Kamada Law, LLC, in Windsor. He took a job the following month with Burnham Law. In March, according to Kamada’s LinkedIn profile, he left Burnham Law for Kamada Law.
Kamada signed an agreement consenting to disbarment and accepting the facts laid out in the court documents. The agreement requires that he pay $224 to the Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Offices for costs incurred in the case.
Kamada is free on bond until his sentencing 2 p.m. Dec. 4. Court records indicate he likely faces 12-18 months of imprisonment and no fines. He faces at least one year of supervised release and no more than three years.
