Crime
Colorado to start fining people caught ‘rolling coal’: what you need to know
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is set this week to sign a bill that will up the fines for so-called “coal rollers” who use modified diesel trucks to smoke out unwitting bystanders.
But what exactly is “rolling coal,” and why did Colorado’s Legislature spend time on two separate bills this session to punish those who do it?
What is coal rolling?
“Coal rolling” has roots in diesel truck pulls, competitions in which drivers modify their diesel engines to pull sleds or other trailers loaded with weight.
But in recent years, people have started to modify their trucks with switches or other fuel or computer modifications that allow more fuel into the engine, creating more diesel exhaust.
The thick clouds of black smoke are evident to those who have seen them, as they are much larger and thicker than a typical diesel exhaust.
Some online retailers started selling kits for people to easily modify their trucks, though regulators have cracked down on them in recent years. But many environmental activists say that the fad is polluting the atmosphere, and others who have been choked by the excess exhaust say it’s simply a nuisance.
Colorado’s past tries at outlawing rolling coal fail
Hickenlooper told the Denver Post he plans to sign Senate Bill 278, saying Colorado would be “well to be rid” of the “cruel” practice.
But SB 278 is the first bill upping the fines for coal rolling that has passed in Colorado after several attempts.
House Bill 1102, which similarly would have added fines to those caught rolling coal, died in the Senate earlier in the session.
In the 2016 session, Larimer County Democrat Rep. Joann Ginal introduced a bill that would have hit people caught rolling coal with a $35 fine and points against their license, but it died before reaching the governor’s desk.
What does Senate Bill 278 do?
But Ginal’s final attempt this session succeeded. She and Sen. Don Coram, a southwest Colorado Republican, cosponsored Senate Bill 278 after House Bill 1102 failed over concerns involving work and agricultural trucks.
The final version calls for a $100 fine for anyone caught rolling coal in a vehicle under 14,000 pounds, but carries exclusions for commercial vehicles and carriers, agricultural vehicles and other commercial vehicles and motor carriers.
Cyclists and police were among those who have voiced concerns about being hit by “coal rollers.”
Fort Collins police in past years have said they were responding to more complaints of coal rolling, and the New York Times reported last year that the state had seen a 5 percent increase in complaints.
What have feds, other states done?
The EPA has said that the modifications being done to diesel trucks violated the Clear Air Act, which has caused some manufacturers of the kits, as well as auto shops, to stop selling the kits or performing the modifications.
But it hasn’t stopped everyone, as police departments say it is a hard rule to enforce in certain situations.
New Jersey banned rolling coal in 2015 (it now could lead to a fine of up to $5,000), and both Maryland and Illinois have introduced bills to put a stop to the practice.
Illinois’ bill has yet to become law, while Maryland’s sits on the governor’s desk, awaiting a signature.
But should Hickenlooper sign the bill this week, Colorado’s law would be just the second of its kind in the U.S.
Denver officer suffered broken femur in Saturday shooting; suicidal suspect still hospitalized
DENVER – The Denver Police Department officer who was shot during an incident with a man in crisis early Saturday morning suffered a broken femur in the shooting, and had only been working as a solo officer for three weeks.
The Denver Police Department named the suspect involved in the incident as Brandon Gerwing, 23. He has no prior criminal record, though officers had to talk him down during a similar incident at his home last October, police said Monday.
Gerwing was shot several times in his torso, police said, and he remains hospitalized in critical condition as of Monday. Once he is released from the hospital, he faces investigation on attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault on a peace officer charges.
Police said Monday that several officers tried to de-escalate the situation after they arrived to Gerwing’s home near South Quitman and West Armherst around 4:40 a.m. Saturday.
Most of the officers had set up about 100 feet from where Gerwing was in his garage, telling him they were there to help, according to police.
But he “wasn’t receptive,” officers said Monday, and after 25 minutes of negotiations, continued to make “angry statements,” a police spokesperson said.
The officers had yet to see that he allegedly had a handgun in his possession, which the department says he suddenly pulled out and moved rapidly toward the officers at the scene. The department said Monday that Gerwing fired at the officers first.
A spokesperson for the department said Gerwing got within about 10 feet of the officers when he started shooting. Officer John Allred deployed his TASER on Gerwing, hitting him.
At the same time, Sgt. Chad Kendall fired his handgun at Gerwing, hitting him several times.
Allred was shot in the leg and suffered a broken femur, and Gerwing was shot several times. No other officers were injured.
Denver police confirmed that Gerwing was using social media while the situation was ongoing, and said he was also suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.
Gerwing was not charged or cited in the October incident.
Sgt. Kendal is an 11-year veteran of the department and has been put on standard administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. None of the other four officers involved have been put on leave.
The department says it will release body camera video of the shooting as soon as it interviews Gerwing and Allred. It also said that all of the officers at the scene that morning had completed crisis intervention training.
“We send sincere condolences to the injured police officer and his family and [are] praying for his recovery,” a Gerwing family spokesperson told Denver7.
3 Colorado district attorneys join U.S. prosecutors in opposition to Sessions’ maximum sentence memo
DENVER – Three of Colorado’s district attorneys are among dozens of local and state prosecutors from across the country who have signed on to a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions discussing their concerns over a new directive calling for maximum sentences for low-level offenders.
Last week, Sessions sent a memo to U.S. attorneys requiring them to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” that alleged criminals are accused of, and to pursue cases that “carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences.”
His directive immediately set off a storm in the criminal justice world, as it stands in direct contradiction of Obama-era policies aimed at reducing prison populations by exonerating low-level drug offenders. Some said Sessions was trying to bring the U.S. back to the “war on drugs” policies of the Reagan and George W. Bush presidencies.
Sessions had said numerous times as a U.S. senator that getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences harmed law enforcement efforts, which defense attorneys and other members of Congress disagreed with.
But Friday, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, Breckenridge District Attorney Bruce Brown and Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett signed on to the letter opposing Sessions’ directives, along with 28 other current or former district attorneys, city attorneys and attorneys general.
They wrote that the directive “marks an unnecessary and unfortunate return to past ‘tough on crime’ practices that we now know simply don’t enhance or promote the safety of our communities.”
“There is no empirical evidence to suggest that increases in sentences, particularly for low-level offenses, decrease the crime rate,” they wrote, adding that the idea that long-term sentences served as a deterrent for future criminal action was “questionable at best.”
The letter says that not only will there be “definitive and significant” actual costs to imprisoning more people, the “reinvigorated…failed ‘war on drugs’” would have a “human cost as well.”
“Instead of providing people who commit low-level drug offenses or who are struggling with mental illness with treatment, support and rehabilitation programs, the policy will subject them to decades of incarceration,” the letter says.
The prosecutors also pointed out that a February paper by Law Enforcement Leaders says that officers “need not use arrest, conviction and prison as the default response for every broken law.”
The prosecutors wrote that they would continue to use “innovative approaches” to prosecuting crimes in their respective jurisdictions.
“It is through these priorities that prosecutors can best advance public safety and fortify trust in the legitimacy of our criminal justice system,” they wrote.
Sessions’ directive puts no exact timeline in place for the changes to happen. A bipartisan group of congressmen have introduced a bill seeking to counteract Sessions’ directive.
Colorado correctional officer sues prison captain over alleged sexual harassment
DENVER – A female correctional officer is suing a prison officer and the Colorado’s executive director of the state Department of Corrections in federal court over claims the officer sexually harassed her, and that she was retaliated against when she cried foul.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court of Colorado over the weekend on behalf of Leticia Cornella, who first took a job with the Department of Corrections in September 2015.
In the suit, Cornella accuses Scott Lancaster, who was her supervisor, of sexual harassment. Department of Corrections Executive Director Rick Raemisch is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Cornella is seeking back pay, punitive damages, reassignment and court and attorneys’ fees should a judge decide in her favor that she was harassed and subjected to discrimination at work.
According to the lawsuit, Cornella, 46, had a one-time sexual encounter with Lancaster shortly after she started working with him at the Limon Correctional Facility.
But she decided that the relationship shouldn’t continue since Lancaster was her supervisor, which the suit says Lancaster also agreed with. But the suit accuses him of backpedaling on that agreement, and eventually subjecting Cornella to ongoing harassment.
“It is the rare case in which a sexual encounter between a supervisor and his or her underling leads to a stroll into a romantic sunset of marital bliss,” the suit says. “More often, the results of such an encounter leads to what has occurred in this case: misunderstood motives, unnecessary fear of reprisal and, most harmful of all, the exercise of power and dominance by a male supervisor over the future employment opportunities of a female employee.”
After Cornella told Lancaster that she did not want to have any further sexual encounters with him, Lancaster “assured…that he understood,” according to the lawsuit.
But she “was wrong,” according to the suit, which says that Lancaster started making advances on her again a couple months later. When she rebuffed him, according to the suit, “[h]e then stormed out of her office, enraged. He would not, he said emphatically, be ignored.”
Even when Cornella met her now-husband, according to the suit, Lancaster continued to make advances. While the three were all hanging out one time, Lancaster allegedly made lewd comments and gestures toward Cornella in front of her husband—one of which she recorded on her cell phone, the suit says.
And he continued to retaliate against her at work, according to the suit, calling her a “porn queen” in front of other staffers at one point last June.
Cornella put in a transfer request, but Lancaster was instead transferred to the prison in Canon City, and Cornella dropped her transfer request.
But according to the suit, Lancaster continued to prod her to have her come join him in Canon City—offers she refused.
And months later—in September 2016—Lancaster transferred back to Limon. Cornella was assigned to be his administrative assistant and would be working directly with him.
The lawsuit says that Lancaster’s behavior “escalated” immediately upon his return, and that he “began to stalk” her, suggesting they should hook up and that Cornella should “just [do] what she was told.”
He was assigned to perform her annual performance review, and the suit says that Cornella feared he would use the review to retaliate against her for denying his alleged advances.
He would stare at her often and try to be close to her, according to the suit, and his behavior “increased to the point of obsession,” she claims.
Last November, according to the suit, Cornella filed a formal complaint against Lancaster, after which she was moved to a different office and told that Lancaster was to have no further communications with her, and that all were to go through a major at the prison.
But the suit claims that didn’t happen, and when she complained to the prison’s warden, he allegedly told her to “get over it.”
“Warden Falk essentially gave Lancaster license to do whatever he pleased if he did not touch Cornella or say anything explicitly inappropriate to her,” the suit says.
In January, an investigator assigned to Cornella’s complaints found he couldn’t charge Lancaster with sexual harassment because the original encounter between him and Cornella was consensual, the lawsuit says.
But Cornella’s lawyer, Denver attorney David H. Wollins, argues that Lancaster again gained power over Cornella because of that judgment: “From that moment forward, Ms. Cornella was a marked woman,” he writes in the suit.
Cornella filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity office in February, claiming that her work environment “had become so hostile that no reasonable woman” would be able to work in Cornella’s job. But the suit claims it did nothing to help.
“February and March 2017 were among the most miserable months of Ms. Cornella’s life,” the suit says, adding that Lancaster continued to invade her space.
Wollins says that the anxiety and stress at work eventually led a doctor to advise she take a week off, and diagnose her with “severe depression and anxiety.”
Upon her return, she requested not to have any contact with Lancaster—but the request was denied. She had already exhausted her paid time off, sick leave and FMLA leave.
And a transfer request to DOC headquarters has so far not been accepted, so Cornella currently remains employed by the department, but is not assigned to any positions and is not being paid. She has gotten a part-time job in the meantime, according to her attorney.
“DOC officials are taking the position that Ms. Cornella is at fault for the hostile work environment,” the suit says.
Gov. Hickenlooper pardons Rene Lima-Marin as family fights deportation to Cuba
DENVER – Governor John Hickenlooper heard the calls from lawyers and activists, awarding Rene Lima-Marin a pardon, although he said it’s not yet known if that will help the reformed criminal win his fight to stay in the U.S.
Lima-Marin won a release from prison on Tuesday after a yearslong fight to get him back out of custody. He was originally sentenced to nearly 100 years in prison for a 2000 robbery, kidnapping and burglary case and was mistakenly released into a parole program in 2008. Continue reading
Affidavit: Teacher at Fountain Valley School, son wanted to cause ‘terror and panic’ with smoke bomb
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. – The Fountain Valley School of Colorado’s Director of Information Technology and his 16-year-old son were the two arrested Tuesday on terrorist training activities and other charges for trying to set off a “military grade” smoke bomb in the school’s cafeteria.
Bryan S. Bolding, 46, and his son, who attended the school, faces numerous charges in the case, which forced the school to evacuate more than 300 students and faculty members Tuesday afternoon.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by our news partners at KRDO, Bolding learned in February that his contract to work at the school would not be renewed.
He and his son started building the devices about two weeks ago, in what Bolding said was originally planned to be a “prank” at graduation. The affidavit says the two instead decided to put the device in the school’s cafeteria sooner.
Bolding admitted to putting the device in the cafeteria around 11 p.m. on Monday, according to the affidavit.
Though he initially denied any knowledge of the incident, he later admitted to having chosen the cafeteria’s salad bar area as the location because it was near ventilation fans and “because that is where the most people would be seated,” according to the affidavit.
Bolding’s son told police that he and his dad had planned to set the device off with a remote in order to cause “terror and panic,” according to the affidavit.
The entire school had been at an assembly before students headed to lunch, which is when the device was discovered by another school staff member.
The staffer unhooked a battery from the device, put it in a cardboard box, and walked in down to the administrative offices.
While en route to contact school officials and security, the staffer passed Bolding’s son, who turned white when he saw what the staffer was holding, according to the affidavit.
Bolding allegedly admitted to having more smoke canisters in his residence at the school, in addition to the remote detonator.
His son admitted to police that there were similar devices and components in his vehicle at the school, and though he also initially admitted to helping his father, the affidavit says that the teen made several false statements after his admission.
Bolding initially denied his son was involved or coerced until officers told him his son had admitted to his involvement.
The affidavit also says that the two tested a similar device around 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening at the Gold’s Gym parking lot on Main Street. The metro bomb squad responded to calls of a suspicious device at the gym, the affidavit confirmed.
A spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said the device did not have the potential to detonate. Bomb squad members and ATF agents were called in to render it safe. No one was injured in the incident.
Bolding posted a $3,000 bond Wednesday and was released from custody. For a full list of the charges the two face, click here.
Records confirm ax was found next to body of slain 4-year-old Broomfield boy
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Police documents show that investigators found a bloody ax next to the body of a 4-year-old boy allegedly killed by his uncle in late April.
Authorities on Wednesday released the arrest affidavit and search warrants surrounding the murder of the boy, allegedly at the hands of his uncle, 25-year-old Emanuel Doll. A Broomfield County Court judge ordered the documents to be released last Friday.
The documents show that Emanuel’s parents, whom he lived with, went to pick up the boy—who was Doll’s sister’s son—that morning as the boy’s mother had to go to nursing school.
They brought the boy back to their home around 8:30 a.m. on April 27, and were playing with him before Emanuel asked the boy to come down to the home’s basement.
Shortly afterward, Doll’s mother heard noises she described to police as “a pillowcase loaded with items hitting the floor.” When she called out to her son to ask about the noises, he told her they were “nothing,” according to the documents.
But Doll came upstairs, and his mother went downstairs, where she discovered her grandson with the mortal injury and a bloody ax sitting next to him.
Much of the remainder of the documents are redacted, but investigators seized several computers from the home—two of which were used by Doll often—as well as cell phones and the ax.
The context that provides insight as to why the computers and phones were seized was redacted from the reports, but they note that Doll sometimes worked for his father, who runs a computer coding business.
Doll faces first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree murder by a person in a position of trust charges. Should he be convicted, he faces a sentence of life without parole, or even death.
Project Unsolved: Police, family still searching for Denver mother of 3 who vanished without a trace
Nearly 11 years ago, a young mother of three living near Sloan’s Lake in Denver left to drop medicine off to one of her sons who was visiting another family member just blocks away. She never arrived at her final destination, and not one of her family members has heard from her since.
Nicholle Torrez was 27 when she disappeared that night—December 14, 2006—and left her mother and young family with a never-ending series of questions, which were only multiplied when a car she had been driving showed up on the other side of the metro area months later. Continue reading
Lakewood man, 24, arrested on murder charges in Coal Creek Canyon triple homicide
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. – Authorities arrested a 24-year-old Lakewood man Tuesday on first-degree murder charges, among others, in the deaths of three people found killed in a home in Coal Creek Canyon in mid-April.
Garrett Matthew Coughlin, 24, was arrested by Boulder County sheriff’s investigators after an interview at the Lakewood Police Department Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading
Homicides in the headlines: Uptick seen in some Colorado metro areas
DENVER – Colorado Springs has seen a major uptick in homicides so far in 2017 when compared to last year.
There have been 12 deaths so far this year in the city classified as homicides, but after three more people were found dead with gunshot wounds over the weekend, that number could rise to 15 if the coroner determines their deaths were homicides.
On Saturday, police arrested a man on first-degree murder charges in the shooting deaths of two of those three – a male and female that still have not been identified. But the determination of whether or not they were murdered will be made by the coroner.
Still, as of May 1, there were 12 homicides in the city so far this year, compared to just one as of May 1 last year. All have so far been deemed murders.
Last year, there were 22 homicides in Colorado Springs – 19 murders and three that were deemed justifiable homicides.
There were 29 homicides in 2015 (22 murders; four negligent/manslaughter; and three justifiable homicides). In 2014, there were 23 homicides (19 murders; two negligent/manslaughter; and two justifiable homicides). And in 2013, there were 31 homicides (25 murders; four negligent/manslaughter; and two justifiable homicides).
The 12 so far this year would put the city on pace to surpass the numbers for the past three years.
Denver has already seen 20 homicides so far, after experiencing a 10-year high of 56 in 2016 (not including officer-involved shootings).
There were a total of 50 in Denver in 2015, and the number has steadily risen after dropping to a 10-year low of 28 in 2010.
Aurora has seen 12 homicides so far in 2017 – compared to eight over the same time period last year.
In 2013, the city had seen 10 over the same period, and ended up having 23 homicides that year. In 2010, police had covered 12 homicides over the same time period, and also ended that year with 23.
Despite Denver’s 10-year high last year, the city still ranked only 19th in terms of the highest murder rates for the 30 largest cities in the U.S.
The Colorado Springs Police Department did not comment further on the city’s homicide numbers so far this year.