A former Edgewater police sergeant indicted for unlawful sexual contact and witness retaliation was sentenced to four years probation in Jefferson County District Court on Monday.

Nathan Geerdes, 42, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact, first-degree official misconduct and forgery on Jan. 23 in a plea deal with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Most recently a Black Hawk police officer, Geerdes was indicted by a grand jury in 2022 on four counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of witness retaliation after he allegedly sexually assaulted a female officer in two separate incidents.

He was fired from the Black Hawk Police Department after his indictment and charged with an additional five counts of attempting to influence a public servant and five counts of forgery in June.

Geerdes was sentenced to four years probation and will be required to register as a sex offender for those four years, according to the district attorney’s office. His state police certification was revoked and he can no longer work in law enforcement.

Geerdes could have been sentenced to up to three years in prison for forgery and up to 120 days in jail for misconduct, according to the district attorney’s office.

He did not address the court before his sentencing Monday, but Geerdes’ wife, friends and colleagues spoke on his behalf, highlighting his law enforcement work and roles as a counselor to disabled people and a family man, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

A former Edgewater police officer also addressed the court during the hearing, according to the district attorney’s office. The woman resigned in 2014 after reporting sexual harassment involving Geerdes and other officers.

“You hunted, you preyed, you abused and used your authority and your position to get away with what we were supposed to protect against,” she said. “He doesn’t deserve to wear the badge.”

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