There seems to be some misunderstanding about marijuana law in Colorado. Medical marijuana has been legalized via Amendment 20, although there are plenty of disagreements about how the system should work, as our interview with Senator Chris Romer earlier today proves. But while possession of small amounts of marijuana has…
Ever since Northglenn Detective Daniel Joyce and Thornton Detective Robert Lopez filed a lawsuit last week alleging corruption within Operation Fortune Cookie, the news media has been rehashing the long, strange tale of the state’s largest — and likely most convoluted – indoor weed bust. (Here’s a play-by-play primer on…
The warrant out for Ari Misha Liggett’s arrest didn’t mention anything about potentially explosive chemicals. According to Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office bureau chief Bruce Williamson, the Centennial man was wanted for illegal weapons possession — specifically, a silencer. But Liggett’s arrest at a UPS office yesterday afternoon led to a…
American kids are born capitalists — capable of understanding that they can make some folding green from another kind of green just lying around the house. Example? A teen in Carbondale was busted for bringing some of his dad’s medical marijuana to middle school and selling it to students. Tony…
The Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, the focus of a 2008 Westword feature, has proven again and again that nicknaming thugs is among the most powerful weapons in its arsenal. If not for them, alleged scofflaws such as the Hoppin Hooded Bandits and the $83 Bandit would be merely…
Those of you who thought indecent exposure and child enticement were a young man’s game need look no further than the sketch seen here to be disabused of that notion. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office suspects that a man in his sixties or seventies may have been responsible for two…
With the sentencing of prominent restaurant owner Dan Tang this coming Wednesday, March 31, it seemed like the long, strange tale of Operation Fortune Cookie would finally be coming to an end. What started more than two and a half years ago as a vague police tip blossomed into the…
This past Monday, when Westword started making calls about a lawsuit that had just been filed by two former North Metro Task Force members alleging they faced retaliation for speaking out about corruption that occurred in Operation Fortune Cookie, a massive indoor weed bust, the case was so new that…
Yesterday, we told you that Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene had been given permission to serve the remainder of his ninety-day sentence for attempting to influence a public servant (by insisting that his young son Falcon was in an “experimental craft” floating over Northern Colorado) at home. Sounds cushy, but…
How did Denver police go about charging Willie Clark with the 2007 murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams? By using witnesses’ own criminal charges as a “vice grip” that convinced them to tell the cops what they knew about the killing, as explained in this week’s feature, “In the Hunt…
Marijuana is a lot easier to steal once it’s been cultivated and packaged. So perhaps it’s an indication of how good the security systems are at Colorado Springs dispensaries that early this morning, three goons invaded a home in the city’s Sand Creek subdivision and stole an unknown number of…
This week, legislators in Connecticut introduced a bill that would allow minors between ages thirteen and eighteen who are in a relationship and engage in sexting to be charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony. This alteration would mean such teens wouldn’t wind up being placed on the state’s…
Tullio Andrew Ragusin has such big balls that they probably should have been charged as co-defendants in the criminal-impersonation and theft case that will bring him to court later today. “He has portrayed himself as not only being a licensed attorney here in Colorado but also an international attorney trained…
Most young parents will tell you that baby formula is so expensive it could be made out of gold. But for Tam Huynh and Thuy Nguyen, it was basically the equivalent of poker chips and narcotics. That’s the story told by the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office in the wake…
Colorado State Patrol Trooper David Dolan spent 21 years on the job without getting nearly as much attention as he did yesterday, when Douglas County Sheriff’s Office personnel pulled him over and arrested him on suspicion of drunk driving. It was certainly a novel offense. CSP spokesman Trooper Ryan Sullivan…
Yesterday afternoon, the Denver Police Department requested the media’s help in snaring Adam Gurule. “It was a case where he was complicit in the prostitution of a child,” says Denver Police Department spokesman Sonny Jackson, who adds that Gurule was known for intimidating both the victim and her clients. “Early…
Usually, Colorado State Patrol officers respond to reports of erratic driving. But this morning, things worked the other way around. Motorists complained about problems relating to a CSP vehicle, leading to a stop by Douglas County Sheriff’s Office personnel that was captured by a cameraman aboard Channel 9’s helicopter and…
Since the release of Denver’s top-fifty-most-wanted-criminals list, we’ve kept you up to date with those who’ve been arrested: Freddie Ray Lazzo and three others on Monday; Jharel Bobby Jones and another duo on Wednesday; and Samuel Crespin yesterday. Today, four more: No. 16, David Bowman, No. 32, Sabrina Mitchell, No…
Isela Reyes-Talamantes, 25, wasn’t accused of personally killing her two-year-old son, Elijah, in 2008. But she’s earned two decades in stir anyhow because, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office, she “rode around running errands for hours with her boyfriend as her 2-year-old son was dying a slow, painful death…
Last week, we told you about a vicious attack in Boulder. The beating was delivered by a man described as being a man of Hispanic or Pacific Island descent with dark red curly hair, a chunky build, a pot belly and “no neck.” Eric Anthony Bustillos, come on down. Bustillos,…
This past weekend, the Denver Police Department released a roster of its fifty most wanted criminals — and since then, it’s been steadily rounding up the targeted scofflaws. A quartet of the accused were hauled in almost immediately, led by Freddie Ray Lazzo, No. 33. And yesterday, we heard about…
On Monday, we shared mug shots and offense information for Denver’s top fifty most wanted criminals — a post supplemented by a sequel noting that the Denver Police Department had already rounded up four of the scofflaws, including accused sexual abuser Freddie Ray Lazzo. Now, the department’s tracked down three…
