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…
In his first few weeks as Secretary of the Interior, former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar was fond of sporting his cowboy hat and declaring that there’s a new sheriff in town — even though the work at hand didn’t lend itself to quick draws, as explained in my feature “The…
View Larger Map Yesterday, the Denver Police Department released preliminary information about a homicide at 1232 West 46th Avenue, a locale captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). Today, the Denver Coroner’s Office has identified the victim: Stephen Ramirez, 24. Read…
View Larger Map An early morning fight resulted in the death of a man found at 1232 West 46th Avenue, a locale captured in the graphic above (if you have problems seeing the image, click “View Larger Map”). The Denver Police Department has a description of a possible suspect, but…
As expected, former gay-porn star Timothy Boham’s claim that that a Colorado businessman he was accused of murdering had actually killed himself — a dubious defense made famous by Wall of Sound innovator Phil Spector — didn’t manage to sway the twelve folks deciding his fate. The jury took less…
Yesterday, Robert Ray was sentenced to death in connection with the 2005 murders of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe — a verdict that duplicated the one previously given to Ray’s accomplice, Sir Mario Owens. The ruling brings the population of Colorado’s death row to three; Nathan Dunlap, who…
View Larger Map The bloodshed continues. According to the Denver Police Department, a man who was shot in the head 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 died early this morning…
In April, Aurora Police Department officers responded to a domestic-violence call involving Kotch Ouellette, 38. His girlfriend, 45-year-old Jennifer Sheppard, had been struck in the head during the altercation in question, but she refused medical treatment — only to be found dead two days later. This week, the Arapahoe County…
