Criminal investigator Tony Collett of the Colorado Attorney General's Office will be the first speaker in the 2022-23 Dr. Max Pickerill Lecture Series at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11. The presentation will be in Frahm Theatre on the CCC campus.
His talk will center on drug cartels, the opioid epidemic, methamphetamine, and how law enforcement addresses drug trafficking and money laundering.
A graduate of Colby Community College, Collett earned a bachelor's degree from Washburn University. While in Topeka, he worked in a civilian role at the Kansas Bureau of Investigations headquarters.
Collett has been a law enforcement officer in Colorado for 23 years. His career began with the Lakewood Police Department, where he served from 1999 to 2014. During that time, he was assigned to patrol, as a narcotics detective with the West Metro Drug Task Force, and the Special Enforcement Team/Gang Unit. His primary focus in each assignment was the investigation of narcotics-related offenses.
In 2010, he developed a criminal interdiction program at Lakewood PD that blossomed into a county-wide collaborative effort among agencies in Jefferson County. In 2014, Collett joined the Colorado Attorney General's Office in the Special Prosecutions Unit, where he is a task force officer to the DEA Strike Force.
Collett has earned several awards for his work as an investigator, including the Lakewood PD Detective of the year, CDIA Interdiction Team of the Year, DEA Administrator's Award for Excellence twice, Task Force Officer of the Year, and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force national award.
Throughout his career, Collett participated in over one thousand narcotics investigations involving the possession and sale of controlled substances, the manufacture of methamphetamine or crack cocaine, and the importation and smuggling of controlled substances. He has authored and obtained over 100 federal and state court-ordered interceptions of wire, oral, and electronic communications, and testified numerous times as an expert witness in cases related to narcotics investigations and drug distribution. On multiple occasions, he located or assisted in locating hidden compartments in vehicles and residences used for concealing narcotics or proceeds.
There is no charge to attend the presentation. The Dr. Max Pickerill Lecture Series is funded annually by anonymous donors. For more information, contact Dr. Linda Davis-Stephens at (785) 460-5528.