Author: Blair Miller
Denver Post fires sportswriter Terry Frei after racially insensitive tweet about Indy 500 winner
DENVER – The Denver Post announced Monday it had fired its sportswriter, Terry Frei, a day after he made a racially-insensitive remark about Japanese driver Takuma Sato winning the Indianapolis 500 Sunday.
“Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during a Memorial Day weekend,” Frei tweeted out Sunday afternoon.
His tweet immediately set off a storm online, leading to Frei quickly deleting the tweet and sending out another message: “I apologize.”
I apologize.
— Terry Frei (@TFrei) May 29, 2017
About three hours later, Frei sent out a lengthier explanation for the original tweet, saying he had been visiting his father’s grave site at the Fort Logan National Cemetery. Frei said his father spent four years flying reconnaissance missions over Japan.
OK, I took out the name of a book. pic.twitter.com/b953FbqMEh
— Terry Frei (@TFrei) May 29, 2017
“I am sorry, I made a mistake, and I understand 72 years have passed since the end of World War II and I do regret people with whom I probably am very closely aligned with politically and philosophically have been so offended. To those people, I apologize,” he wrote.
But the damage had apparently been done, as The Post’s publisher, Mac Tully, and editor, Lee Ann Colacioppo, announced Monday that Frei was no longer employed by the Post.
“We apologize for the disrespectful and unacceptable tweet that was sent by one of our reporters. Terry Frei is no longer an employee of The Denver Post. It’s our policy not to comment further on personnel issues,” they wrote in a statement posted to the Post’s website. “The tweet doesn’t represent what we believe nor what we stand for. We hope you will accept our profound apologies.”
Frei is also an author. He wrote a book about the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers football team, many of whom went on to fight for the U.S. in World War II.
Coffman, Polis bill would force VA study of veteran suicide, overmedication for behavioral disorders
DENVER – As we honor the American service men and women who have lost their lives in combat on Memorial Day, two Colorado congressmen are working to help stop veterans from dying in the war against drug addiction and suicide back home.
A bill introduced last week, which is co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Coffman (R-CO06) and Jared Polis (D-CO02), along with other House Democrats and Republicans, aims to put the Veterans Affairs Secretary into an agreement with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a full review of veterans’ suicides and drug use over the past 5 years.
The House version of the bill is called the “Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017.”
If passed and signed by President Donald Trump, the VA and national academies would, within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, undertake a full review of every suicide, violent death, or accidental death of a VA-covered veteran over the past 5 years—regardless of whether the death was covered by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting methodology.
The team would create a list of every medication prescribed to the veteran, as well as any legal or illegal drug the veteran was taking prior to their death.
It would also review every VA diagnosis that led to a doctor describing medication for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injuries, sexual abuse and other anxiety and depression-related disorders.
The review would also be tasked with covering the number of times a veteran was concurrently put on different medications and why, as well as the number of veterans who died after not being prescribed with any medications.
The review would have to make a distinction between whether or not a veteran was also given behavioral health treatments, in addition to prescription drugs, and review protocols in plays in the VA system for pain scoring and prescribing painkillers.
The VA’s staffing levels for mental health professionals would also be reviewed, and an analysis of the VA locations prescribing the highest number of painkillers would also be done.
The program the bill aims to create is similar to a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced in that chamber.
Both hope to address an alarming increase in the number of veterans’ suicides, which has jumped to around 20 per day in the U.S.
“This bill will enable us to better identify the links between prescription drugs overdoses and veterans’ suicide,” Coffman said. “The VA’s drug-centric culture is not only something we are looking to change, but also we seek to better understand this growing epidemic of opioid use. Our goal is to ultimately avoid veterans’ and their families’ unnecessary suffering.”
“I’ve long believed that we owe our nation’s heroes alternatives for pain management and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment other than narcotic and opioid pain medications. This study is a step in a positive direction toward heading off the tragic epidemic of veterans’ suicide by understanding how traditional systems of treatment may be undermining some veterans’ ability to pursue healthy, happy lives,” Rep. Polis said.
Police: Ft. Collins woman, thought to be on drugs, woke up to find infant son dead after 18-hour nap
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A woman believed to have been on drugs is accused of falling asleep with her 3-month-old son, then waking up 18 hours later to find the infant dead.
Mandi Woodall, 28, faces a felony charge of child abuse, knowingly or recklessly causing death, and two misdemeanor counts of knowing or reckless child abuse.
According to Fort Collins police, officers were called to Woodall’s home on Garfield Street just before 6 p.m. on May 23 on reports of a dead child.
Woodall originally told officers she’d taken a two-hour nap with her infant son, but woke up and found him unresponsive.
But police say they determined after further investigation she’d been asleep for nearly 18 hours.
Two other children were at the home at the time and had been left unattended the entire time Woodall was sleeping, police said, adding they both showed “signs of neglect” but were uninjured.
“Drugs are believed to have been a factor in this case,” the police department said.
Police arrested Woodall on Thursday; she was booked into the Larimer County jail.
People with information on the case are asked to call Detective Jaclyn Shaklee at 970-416-2771 or Larimer County Crime Stoppers at 970-221-6868.
Questions mount after host of Colorado oil and gas incidents; safety investigations continue
WELD COUNTY, Colo. – Gov. John Hickenlooper says there is currently “no reason to believe” that the circumstances behind Thursday’s deadly explosion at an oil tank battery in Weld County are similar to those that caused a home in Firestone to explode last month, killing two.
The name of the worker who died at the scene of Thursday’s incident at the Anadarko-owned battery is expected to be released later Friday. The death was the third linked to Anadarko-owned oil and gas properties in Colorado in the past two months. Continue reading
Lawsuit: Anadarko defrauded investors with ‘materially false’ info about Firestone explosion risk
DENVER – Anadarko Petroleum, the company responsible for two oil and gas sites whose explosions have killed three people and severely injured four others in Colorado over the past five weeks, now faces accusations that it made “materially false and misleading statements” about the Firestone home explosion that defrauded investors out of money.
An investor named Robert Edgar filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Anadarko Petroleum Company, its CEO, president and chairman, R.A. Walker, and its CFO, Robert Gwin earlier this month in federal court in Texas. Anadarko is based in The Woodlands, Texas—a Houston suburb. Continue reading
Mother’s boyfriend arrested for 18-month-old girl’s death in Rocky Ford
ROCKY FORD, Colo. – Authorities have arrested the boyfriend of the mother of an 18-month-old girl found dead Saturday on suspicion of child abuse that resulted in the girl’s death.
Ryan Casias, 20, of Rocky Ford is set to be advised of his charge Friday in an Otero County courtroom. He is being held on a $150,000 bond for the child abuse resulting in death charge.
Investigators still aren’t saying much about the circumstances behind 18-month-old Jayleianna Rivas-Trujillo’s death, only that they were called to a home in Rocky Ford on Saturday morning after an unresponsive child was reported.
The toddler was taken to the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, then airlifted to Children’s Hospital, where she died.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says Casias is Rivas-Trujillo’s mother’s boyfriend.
DA: Denver PD ‘careless’ in responding to union’s open records request, but no charges filed
DENVER – Denver District Attorney Beth McCann won’t file charges against the Denver Police Department’s chief or deputy chief after the department allegedly violated the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) when it initially kept secret a letter from the former district attorney concerning a controversial arrest last year.
McCann’s decision comes after a months-long investigation by Denver7 Investigates into the letter, which was obtained by the investigative team in January.
In the letter, then-District Attorney Mitch Morrissey wrote to Police Chief Robert White about his concerns over an investigation into an alleged rape committed by a DPD officer and another woman who were arrested but never charged.
In the letter, Morrissey took issue with DPD Deputy Chief Matthew Murray’s discretion and actions during the investigation, particularly with Murray’s decision to “rush to judgment” in arresting the people involved in the case, and bypassing what Morrissey says were long-engrained rules about consulting with the district attorney’s office about “serious investigations.”
Though White responded with a two-sentence letter to Morrissey in June 2016—a month after Morrissey originally sent the letter.
The Denver Police Department’s rank-and-file union, the Denver Police Protective Association (DPPA) had made formal CORA requests to DPD on December 28 of last year and Jan. 3 of this year for Morrissey’s letter and White’s response, but didn’t receive Morrissey’s letter to the department until Jan. 30—more than a month after the original request, days after Denver7 asked police about the letters and the records denials.
By then, DPPA had already received both Morrissey and White’s letters from the district attorney’s office three weeks earlier via a separate CORA request.
“They lied and said that the letter didn’t exist, that there were no records responsive to our request,” union president Nick Rogers told Denver7 Investigates in January. “It was nothing but an out-and-out lie.”
In March, McCann’s office opened an investigation as to whether DPD violated CORA laws, and Denver’s Department of Public Safety opened an independent investigation into both the original case and the open records spat.
Now that the district attorney’s decision has been made, the city’s investigation will continue.
“We have engaged a third party to handle the administrative investigation into this matter,” said Denver Department of Public Safety Communications Director Daelene Mix. “Now that the District Attorney’s office has concluded its work, we will advance the findings to the third party and the administrative investigation will commence.”
First Amendment attorney Steve Zansberg said DPD’s open records denials raised “significant suspicion” when he talked to Denver7 Investigates about the case in March.
“It raises significant suspicion that they were unable to find a letter until you told them you had a copy of it,” Zansberg told Denver7’s chief investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski.
But McCann said Thursday that there was not “sufficient evidence…to find a knowing and willful violation of CORA beyond a reasonable doubt.”
She did not fully exonerate White and Murray’s handling of the records, however, despite saying no one will face charges.
“The CORA requests in question were handled carelessly by DPD, particularly by Chief White and Deputy Chief Murray,” McCann said. “The public has the right to expect a quick and thoughtful response to CORA requests by city officials, particularly by its police leadership.”
She also urged the Denver Department of Safety and DPD to “examine and improve” its process for responding to CORA requests.
“These requests provide the public with important access to government documents. Immediate and thorough responses are critical to provide transparency and accountability in government operations,” McCann said.
CBI called in to help investigate death of 18-month-old girl in Rocky Ford
ROCKY FORD, Colo. – State and local authorities are investigating the death of an 18-month-old girl that happened Saturday, though few details are available.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday evening it had joined the Rocky Ford Police Department and 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office investigation into the girl’s death.
CBI said that it would not release details because the investigation is still active.
But a GoFundMe page identifies the toddler as Jayleianna Rivas-Trujillo, and says she died as a result of child abuse. Attempts to reach the Rocky Ford Police Department to confirm that is the case have been unsuccessful.
The La Junta Tribune-Democrat reports that dispatch was called Saturday to report that the girl was unresponsive, and that when an officer arrived, she had a faint pulse.
According to the Tribune-Democrat, the officer performed a sternum rub on the girl before she was taken to the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, then airlifted to Children’s Hospital, where she died.
Lakewood man sentenced to maximum 48 years for beating girlfriend’s young son to death
GOLDEN, Colo. – The Lakewood man who pleaded guilty last month to beating his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son to death in 2014 was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum 48 years in prison that he faced.
Ever Lopez-Calidonio, 27, pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death charges last month for killing his girlfriend’s son, Jason “J.J.” Ramirez in October 2014, by beating him repeatedly.
He faced between 36 and 48 years in prison at sentencing, but Judge Chris Bachmeyer handed him the maximum sentence, saying it was among the most violent child deaths she’d seen in more than two decades on the job.
In October 2014, Lakewood police were called to the home Lopez-Calidonio shared with his girlfriend and her son, and found the boy laying on the pavement outside his mother’s apartment.
The boy’s mother had just left for work, and neighbors had seen Lopez-Calidonio slapping the boy’s chest and called police.
Though Lopez-Calidonio claimed he was trying to help the boy breathe when he was struggling, the boy’s autopsy showed that he had a transected liver and other internal bleeding caused by various injuries.
In addition to the blunt-force injuries to his body, the boy was found to have injuries to his head as well.
In his plea hearing, Lopez-Calidonio admitted he started beating the boy in the abdomen when the boy soiled himself while Lopez-Calidonio was running late for work.
During his sentencing hearing, Lopez-Calidonio told the judge he’d made a “mistake” and wanted to be treated as such, but the judge didn’t agree.
Lopez-Calidonio, a Guatemala native, has been living in the country illegally after overstaying a visa, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office says.
Denver sergeant accused of revealing trafficking victim’s name joins Brauchler’s trafficking unit
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. – A Denver Police Department sergeant who had previously been named in a lawsuit as having identified the victim of a child sex trafficking case in a film will join the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office’s special human trafficking team.
District Attorney George Brauchler announced Daniel Steele’s hiring as a criminal investigator in the office’s human trafficking team Wednesday.
Steele, most-recently a sergeant working for the Denver Police Department’s Special Investigations Division, has worked in law enforcement for more than 22 years and is widely considered an expert in combatting sex trafficking.
He was one of the investigators who helped found the Rock Mountain Innocence Lost Task Force and supervised it for five years.
But he was also named in a lawsuit filed late last year, in which he was accused of disclosing personal details, including the name and photograph, of a child sex trafficking victim from Denver in a movie that ran on Netflix called “Tricked.”
Though he was not a defendant in the lawsuit, Steele’s actions were the crux of it. The defendant in the suit, film company Three Generations Inc., settled for an undisclosed amount with the plaintiff in February.
Brauchler’s human trafficking unit was founded after his office received funding from the four counties his district represents in 2015.
“These cases are frequently difficult to prosecute,” said Brauchler. “Victims can be reluctant to testify, and witnesses frequently come from troubled backgrounds and tough circumstances. Our team understands the complexities and works to hold traffickers accountable and help vulnerable victims. I’m pleased to be able to add Dan Steele’s expertise to our efforts.”