Polis Orders Review After State Agency Misses Red Flags In Hiring Process

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun

The state Behavioral Health Administration, which lost its first two commissioners amid allegations of mismanagement, hired a deputy commissioner without checking with the nonprofit where she had worked for 12 years or learning she was under investigation for stealing $99,000 in a tuition-reimbursement scheme, The Colorado Sun has learned.

Lindsay Salas, who was hired in November as a deputy behavioral health commissioner at the 4-year-old state agency, worked there until Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office revealed this week that Salas doctored tuition reimbursement records to take $99,000 while she was head of CASA of Adams and Broomfield counties. 

The nonprofit, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, trains volunteers to stick up for abused and neglected children throughout the court and foster care process. Salas agreed to a civil settlement to return $66,000 of the money, which the attorney general said she pocketed by taking advantage of one of the nonprofit’s top donors who had agreed to pay for her tuition at the University of Denver. The judgment resolves a civil case but does not preclude any other potential legal action against Salas. 

The scheme was “first identified internally” by CASA in January 2025, and its board of directors launched their own review, consulted a lawyer and hired an outside forensic accounting firm to investigate, said Cathy Lucas, a spokesperson for the regional nonprofit. Salas was on leave during the internal investigation. She resigned from CASA in May and the findings of CASA’s review were turned over to the Attorney General’s Office in July, Lucas said. 

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