The trial for a former Fountain City Councilmember accused of stealing over $37,000 in public assistance funds has been pushed to July.

Detra Duncan, 55, resigned in mid-September 2025 after El Paso County investigators say they found forged documents that Duncan used to file for food assistance, Medicaid and other benefits for herself and her child dating back to 2016 — all while concealing her position as an elected official, court records previously obtained by The Gazette showed.

Initially scheduled for late March, her trial was pushed to July 13 after her attorney, Cindy Hyatt, asked El Paso County Judge Marcus Henson for more time to prepare.

Duncan has publicly stated that she is not guilty of the crime, saying in her resignation statement on Sept. 16 that her leaving was not an admission of guilt.

“While I firmly believe in the integrity of my service and my commitment to the residents of Fountain, I also recognize that recent circumstances have cast a shadow over my ability to serve effectively. The people of our community deserve leadership that can govern without distraction or doubt,” she wrote at the time.

News of the alleged crime broke the Friday before her resignation.

Duncan has not replied to a request for comment, referring questions to her attorney.

An affidavit alleges that she used Wite-Out to conceal her employment with the city of Fountain as an elected official on employment documents. She instead represented her $300 per month salary as payment for cleaning services as a custodian with the city of Fountain, according to court documents.

The original pay stubs listed Duncan as an “elected official,” the affidavit alleges. 

The charges allege that Duncan forged documents to misrepresent her living situation, telling DHS she was the caregiver for two disabled family members, Duncan’s mother and uncle, who she said lived upstairs in her Fountain home. Investigators say the two family members had died by the time Duncan submitted letters she claimed had been written by them verifying their residency and Duncan as their caregiver.

The affidavit claims the two family members never lived in Colorado and were instead lifelong residents of Louisiana. Duncan’s mother’s date of death is listed as 1998 in the affidavit, while records say her uncle died in 2019.

Also alleged is that Duncan hid the existence of her husband, Larry Duncan, in her assistance paperwork because his job and benefits as a veteran would have disqualified the household from receiving the assistance.

The Rocky Mountain NAACP called the investigation a “deliberate” attempt to smear the now former councilwoman.

“We are gravely concerned about the continued and deliberate attempts to destroy Councilwoman Duncan’s reputation and silence her voice simply because she has been an effective and principled elected official,” NAACP officials said in a late September news release.

“The truth is clear: when Black women in Colorado like Councilwoman Duncan step forward to lead—particularly in races for elected office where victory would disrupt the status quo—they are too often met with smear campaigns, false accusations, and relentless harassment designed to drive them out of public service.”

Duncan was reelected to the Fountain City Council in 2023. In 2024, she was the Democratic candidate for El Paso County Commission District 4, losing to Cory Applegate, who also served on Fountain City Council.