I got an e-mail bulletin this morning from Denver DA Mitch Morrissey, warning me to be aware of a Craigslist scam involving unreal deals on rental properties. I’ve moved twice in the past eighteen months and both times I have seen a number of these — the first time, I…
View Larger Map The Denver Police Department is investigating shootings at 12565 E. Albrook Drive, in an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). Officers arrived at the scene around 1 a.m. to find two men suffering from gunshot wounds;…
The investigation into the hit-and-run death of Lilian Verdonkschot, 49, has gone through several permutations since the incident took place on May 29. Dawn Marie Gonzales was taken into custody in connection with the crime, only to be subsequently released — and afterward, the Denver Police Department representatives announced that…
Yesterday, a woman who works as a hair stylist in LoDo complained to me about a rash of recent bike thefts in the area. Indeed, a quick check of Denver Police reports since Tuesday shows that at least six people who locked up their bikes near 17th and Wynkoop, and…
Three similar incidents in a short period of time are said to constitute a trend — but two is close enough, particularly when it comes to high-tech indecent exposure. To whit: On June 3, according to the Parker Police Department, a man used a laptop or portable DVD player to…
The “100 Days of Heat” campaign, in which local police agencies step up their efforts to put drunk drivers behind bars before they can kill anyone, is in full force this weekend in at least a couple of local municipalities. Lakewood is announcing a handful of sobriety checkpoints to be…
On June 10, Secretary of the Interior (and former Colorado senator) Ken Salazar announced the indictment and arrest of 24 individuals suspected of trafficking in illegally obtained artifacts in the Four Corners area. But who found these items in the first place? One theory: meth addicts. An article in Grand…
Our February 4 story, “Medical Marijuana Has Become a Growth Industry in Colorado,” described how the state’s medical pot laws have fueled a booming dispensary industry — an industry that was starting to look like the Wild West, with robberies and rip-off accusations thanks to lax regulations and fly-by-night entrepreneurs…
It had been almost a week since the Mile High Murder count moved up — meaning that there had been no new slayings in the seven-county metro area since the June 10 homicide of Eugene Velarde at the intersection of 17th and Sheridan. Unfortunately, all good things have to come…
In a blog published yesterday morning, I noted that the Denver Police Department’s sex-crimes unit had put out an alert about a “pattern offender” — but the notice contained no description of the actual offenses. Perhaps that’s unsurprising given the DPD’s rather haphazard approach to information dispersal. Typical was a…
Even as Arapahoe County officials go beyond the call of duty in their efforts to bust Brian Wayne Coplen, who’s wanted for allegedly running a marijuana grow-house in Bennett, representatives of the Boulder Police Department are questioning four men in connection with a robbery at a facility where pot is…
Clinton S. March, seen here, is a moderately attractive man — certainly far from hideous. But I don’t really have a hankering to see him nude, which is how a homeowner living on the 700 block of Isabelle Street in Golden found him yesterday. March then ran down the street…
One of the basic rules of press releases is that they represent a release of information to the press, right? But one of the latest missives to issue from the Denver Police Department keeps info divulging to a minimum, offering a reward for information leading to the capture of a…
Don’t know if Brian Wayne Coplen, 24, is the most wanted man in Arapahoe County — but representatives of the sheriff’s office are going out of their way to snare him. A month after sending out a press release about Coplen’s alleged complicity in a marijuana-grow operation in Bennett that…
View Larger Map Another body — this one identified moments ago by the Denver Coroner’s office as Eugene Velarde, 25, who died of multiple gunshot wounds near the intersection of 17th Avenue and W. Sheridan Boulevard, an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image,…
View Larger Map Yesterday morning, a man the Aurora Police Department is now identifying as Baltazar Ramirez-Estrada, 25, was killed during a robbery outside the Bar La Cabana, a venue located on the 1100 block of Yosemite Street. (The venue is captured in the graphic above; if you have any…
Following a May 29 hit-and-run that killed 49-year-old Lillian Verdonkschot near a Burger King in the vicinity of West 6th Avenue and Broadway, the Denver Police Department announced the arrest of a suspect named Dawn Marie Gonzales — but a few days later, Gonzales was released. Now the DPD has…
There’s plenty to get disgusted about in the story of a Colorado female inmate who was awarded $1.3 million in damages for two years’ worth of sexual assaults by a male guard. As this report in the Denver Post recounts, federal judge David Ebel blasted the Colorado Department of Corrections…
The Denver Police Department has named a suspect in the stabbing death of Stephen Ramirez, who died at Denver Health Medical Center early Tuesday morning, June 9, following an attack at 1232 West 46th Avenue. He is Juan Carlos Lopez, 28. Lopez has clearly had an opportunity to pose for…
View Larger Map The Denver Coroner’s Office has identified the man who was shot over the weekend on the 2400 block of South Federal, an area captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). He was William Ortiz, 21. The release on…
View Larger Map The violent deaths continue to stack up — and they’re not waiting for the weekend. Early this morning, Aurora Police Department officers were dispatched to the Bar La Cabana, 1130 Yosemite Street, a venue captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click…
UPDATE: In a letter to a researcher, Richard Reid said that, while he accepts God wanted him to fail in his attempted attack, he does have “tactical regrets” about how he carried it out. In the missive to Dr. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco, Reid went on to mention the recent Charlie Hebdo…
