Crime
Man who claimed neo-Nazi haircut led to stabbing in Colorado actually stabbed himself, police say
SHERIDAN, Colo. – A man who claimed he’d been stabbed outside a Sheridan restaurant on Aug. 16 because his haircut made him look like a neo-Nazi actually stabbed himself, police say.
Joshua Lee Witt, 26, was booked late last week on a false reporting to authorities criminal summons, which could land him a fine of $2,650 and up to a year in jail if he’s convicted. Continue reading
Prairie Middle School teacher Brian Vasquez now faces 31 felony child sex charges
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. – The Prairie Middle School teacher arrested last week on child sex crime charges now faces 31 felony counts related to the case, and the investigation is ongoing.
Brian C. Vasquez, 34, was originally charged with eight felony counts relating to his alleged physical abuse of and exchanging nude photos with several students. Last week, prosecutors said they’d so far discovered five victims of his, but that there may be more.
Vasquez appeared in court Monday morning to see his formal charges returned. They now contain 11 counts of sex assault on a child by a person in a position of trust; 10 counts of sex exploitation of a child – inducement or enticement; eight counts of sexual contact – coercion of a child; and two counts of internet luring of a child with intent to exploit.
All are either class 3 or class 4 felonies in Colorado.
The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office says the additional charges aren’t because prosecutors have found more victims, but because they’d found more ways to charge Vasquez.
Vasquez was arrested Tuesday after investigators came to his school, which is part of the Cherry Creek School District.
The judge in his case stipulated that Vasquez wouldn’t be able to contact his two young sons expect by telephone, and won’t be able to use the internet following his arrest.
Vasquez was put on administrative leave after his arrest. He’s worked at the school for seven years as a social studies teacher and a coach in the “Destination Imagination” program.
He also previously worked in the Widefield and Harrison school districts in the Colorado Springs area, and spent two years as a youth worker at the San Luis Valley Youth Detention Center.
Vasquez remains held on a $200,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Cherry Creek Schools didn’t tell parents of security guard arrest
DENVER – Cherry Creek School District officials didn’t notify parents of students at Grandview High School that a security guard working at the school was arrested and charged with sex crimes in May, but they didn’t technically have to because Colorado has no statewide policy for doing so, nor does the district have a written policy of its own.
Denver7 Investigates learned in recent weeks that the school’s security guard, 29-year-old Broderick Jerrod Lundie, had been arrested on May 4 on child sex assault charges. Continue reading
Prosecutors: Prairie Middle School teacher had 5 victims; 1 suffering from mental distress
DENVER – The Prairie Middle School teacher arrested Tuesday on eight counts of child sex assault and exploitation had at least five victims and had been allegedly abusing his victims over a period of four years, Arapahoe County prosecutors said at his first court appearance Wednesday.
Brian C. Vasquez, 34, won’t be able to contact his two sons except by telephone and won’t be able to use the internet after his arrest, a judge ordered. He also saw his bond set at $200,000 during the Wednesday morning court appearance in Arapahoe County. Continue reading
Cherry Creek Schools security guard arrested in May for sexual assault of student
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. – On the same day that a Cherry Creek School District teacher was arrested for multiple counts of child sex assault and exploitation, Denver7 has learned that a security guard working for the district was arrested in May after he was caught allegedly sexting and having oral sex with at least one student at the school he worked at.
Broderick Jerrod Lundie, 29, was arrested on May 4 on possession of child pornography, promotion of obscenities to a minor and sexual assault charges. Continue reading
Prairie Middle School teacher is sexual assault suspect, believed to have ‘multiple victims’
AURORA, Colo. – A social studies teacher at Prairie Middle School, which is part of the Cherry Creek Schools system, was arrested Tuesday on multiple felony counts of child sexual assault and exploitation.
Brian C. Vasquez, 34, faces three counts of sexual assault by a person in a position of trust, and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
Vasquez has worked at the school for seven years as a social studies teacher and a coach in the “Destination Imagination” program at Prairie MS, an after-school program. Continue reading
Colorado AG won’t prosecute ‘faithless elector’ Micheal Baca; Williams says he’s ‘disappointed’
DENVER – Colorado’s attorney general won’t prosecute the so-called “faithless elector,” Micheal Baca, who broke state law last December when he wrote John Kasich’s name on his elector ballot instead of Hillary Clinton’s as was required.
Baca was a Democratic elector for Colorado and was one of three so-called “Hamilton electors” from Colorado who had threatened to try and upend President Donald Trump’s victory by voting for another candidate on the electoral ballot. Continue reading
Denver-born man accused in at least 4 cold-case murders; bodies found in barrels in New Hampshire
DENVER – Authorities in New Hampshire say they believe a Denver-born man was responsible for the murders of a woman and her three children, and the disappearance and likely murder of another woman, who all either disappeared or were found dead over the past 35 years.
New Hampshire’s attorney general issued a news release Friday morning identifying the suspect as Terry Peder Rasmussen, who was born in Denver in 1943.
They say Rasmussen lived in Denver during his youth before he and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He never lived in Colorado again, according to authorities.
He had a wife and three children after a stint in the U.S. Navy, but they left him in either 1973 or 1974, according to authorities, and never saw him again. He was last seen by his family in 1974 in Phoenix with an unknown woman. The wife and daughters remain alive today.
At some point in the late ‘70s, Rasmussen started going by the name of Robert “Bob” Evans.
In 1985 and 2000, New Hampshire police found the bodies of a woman and three children inside barrels in Allenstown, New Hampshire. A Manchester, New Hampshire woman, Denise Beaudin disappeared in 1981 and has long been presumed dead. She had been dating Evans at the time and had a 6-month-old daughter. Evans wasn’t the father.
In January of this year, authorities put out photos of a man and details about the deaths of the woman and her children. Tips delivered to investigators were flushed out, and detectives were able to identify “Bob Evans” as the suspect.
They were able to find one of “Evans’” children, and got a DNA sample, which led to the identification of Evans, and the new fact that “Evans” was indeed Terry Peder Rasmussen.
Rasmussen, using various aliases, had been arrested multiple times over the years, and was arrested in 2002 for killing his then-girlfriend, Eunsoon Jun, in California.
He was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 15 years-to-life in prison. He died in prison in December 2010.
Last October, DNA analysis showed that one of the girls found dead in one of the barrels in 2000 was indeed Rasmussen’s daughter.
Now, New Hampshire authorities are looking for anyone who can help piece together where Rasmussen was between 1974-78 and to identify some of the people whose bodies were found over the years.
They believe he spent time in New Hampshire, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon and Virginia over that timeframe, and have put together a timeline of his life.
Anyone who has information related to Rasmussen or the case is asked to contact New Hampshire State Police’s Cold Case Unit at 603-223-3856 or coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.
VDARE conference planned in Colorado Springs canceled amid uproar over white supremacists
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A conference of white supremacists and their sympathizers scheduled for April 2018 at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort has been canceled, the organization and resort confirmed Wednesday.
The cancelation came a day after Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers denounced white supremacy and said the city wouldn’t “provide any support or resources” to the event. Continue reading
White supremacy in the headlines: A look back at the time the KKK ruled Colorado
DENVER – As white supremacist organizations and the Ku Klux Klan are again in the news across the U.S. due to their emboldened resurgence over the past couple of years, we are taking a look back at the history of the Klan in Colorado—one of several western states that saw among the largest population of members in the early 1920s.
According to a 1965 article by James H. Davis published in Colorado Magazine called “Colorado Under the Klan,” John Galen Locke became the first Grand Dragon of the Klan in Colorado after it was founded in 1922. Other historians have written that Klansmen started organizing in Colorado in 1920. Continue reading