STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – A 60-year-old man faces sexual assault on a child and child prostitution charges, among others, after he allegedly assaulted at least four underage victims.

Miguel Angel Diaz-Martinez is being held on a $1 million bond at the Routt County Detention Center after his arrest Wednesday.

Steamboat Springs police say they started investigating illegal drug activity at Diaz-Martinez’s home in July, which eventually led them to find he was “pimping” juveniles and sexually assaulting them.

He faces aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault on a child, patronizing a prostituted child, inducement of child prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor charges.

The police department says its detectives believe there are more victims in addition to the four that have already come forward.

But Steamboat Springs Police Commander Annette Dopplick said she was “proud” of the victims who have already come forward, noting that many young victims of sexual abuse can feel shamed they were manipulated.

The department wants anyone who may have been a victim of Diaz-Martinez’s or has any other knowledge of his possible criminal activity to call them at 970-879-1144.

A 24-hour crisis hotline is also operated by Advocates Building Peaceful Communities; it can be reached at 970-879-8888.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Homicide investigators say two separate murders that happened days apart over the last week were likely perpetrated by the same two men, one of whom remains at large.

Colorado Springs police say Richard Spanks, 25, and Haywood Miller Jr., 24, are the primary suspects in both the Nov. 29 double homicide that happened on Mosswood Lane and the Nov. 26 Carmel Drive murder that left one person dead and another wounded.

Miller is already in custody on first-degree murder charges for the Mosswood Lane murder, but Spanks has yet to be arrested.

Marcus Williams, 21, was killed in the Carmel Drive incident after he was shot at the Royal Lani apartment complex. Another man in his mid-40s was wounded in the shooting.

Police say they are also looking for a red 2010 Kia Forte registered to Spanks and possibly connected to the murders. The car has Colorado plate QNC-845 and VIN KNAFU4A26A5053180.

Spanks should be considered armed and dangerous and has a long criminal history in Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma, police say.

They have yet to say why they believe the two murders are connected.

DENVER – The Denver District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday released body camera video from the officer who was cleared last week in the August shooting of a 17-year-old armed car theft suspect.

District Attorney Mitch Morrissey found DPD Corporal Jeffrey Heinis should not face charges in the Aug. 16 shooting of the 17-year-old, who is referred to in the shooting review only by his initials, “LAJ.”

LAJ was driving a car he allegedly stole at gunpoint days earlier down Federal Boulevard the day he was shot. Three other people were in the car, according to Morrissey’s report. When a DPD officer pulled up behind the car, it turned and pulled into a credit union parking lot near 12th Avenue and Federal Boulevard.

Corporal Heinis was called for backup and drove to the credit union. Morrissey’s review says one of the people in the vehicle went into the credit union before Heinis arrived.

But once Heinis got there, the remaining three teens, including LAJ, got out of the car and tried to hop a fence into an alley. LAJ was carrying a gun at the time, though he never pointed it at Heinis.

“So I thought, okay, he’s bringing it for a reason,” Heinis described to investigators reviewing his shooting. “He’s not just wanting to hang on to it. There’s no reason for him to get out of the car with that gun.”

Heinis said he was concerned LAJ would get away and worried that people at several busy businesses and a bus stop nearby would be at-risk of being hurt by LAJ, according to Morrissey’s report.

“I decided to fire shots at him to stop him from doing that. I considered him a very imminent threat to everybody in the area, including myself,” Heinis told investigators.

About 14 seconds had elapsed from when Heinis arrived to the scene and when he started shooting.

LAJ was again trying to jump over the fence when Heinis fired 12 shots, hitting LAJ once near the ankle, breaking a bone.

Two of the other teens were arrested on outstanding warrants. One of them pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun by a juvenile, as two guns aside from the one LAJ was holding when he was shot were found in the stolen vehicle.

A state revised statute allows officers to use “physical force” on someone who might escape, and “physical deadly force” on someone who may escape “by use of a deadly weapon” or may use a weapon to “endanger human life or to inflict serious bodily injury to another unless apprehended without delay.”

Morrissey’s review of Heinis’ shooting determined “there was no other option available for Corporal Heinis to successfully prevent LAJ’s escape and to arrest him.”

“The only other option was for Heinis to use no physical force, to let LAJ escape, and to hope he would be apprehended later without having cause harm to anyone,” Morrissey wrote, saying that criminal charges for the officer would not be “ethically supportable under criminal law standards.”

“LAJ” was hospitalized and was charged days later with felony menacing, possession of a weapon by a previous offender and felony vehicle theft.

He pleaded guilty to the felony menacing charge on Nov. 21 and was sentenced to between one and two years in the Division of Youth Corrections. He has since turned 18, but this is his sixth sentence for being a juvenile delinquent.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – The woman who drowned her developmentally-disabled grandson in a motel bathtub last year was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday.

Onesia Najera will also have to serve at least 5 years of parole once her sentence is completed on child abuse resulting in death charges.

Najera ran a bath for her 10-year-old grandson last May, then left the room. When she came back, the boy had drowned in the tub.

The boy had cerebral palsy, and his special education teacher told police the boy “appeared very emaciated and malnourished” about a month before his death.

Najera and a neighbor allegedly tried to resuscitate the boy, but were not successful.

Najera also allegedly worked as a prostitute and abused several of the boy’s siblings, according to her arrest affidavit.

The boy’s paternal grandfather tried to adopt the boy in 2007 after Najera was accused of neglecting the boy, but he says Human Services allowed the boy to return to her custody.

His grandfather said the boy couldn’t feed himself, walk or talk.

CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. – A person has come forward with new information relating to the cold case murder of Beverly England, who disappeared in 1980 but whose remains weren’t identified until last year.

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze Office told Denver7 Tuesday that the new information “leads us to believe there are more people that have information in regards to the investigation” of England’s death.

Though the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has said a grand jury will not be convened to determine if charges should be filed in the case, Sheriff Spezze says the case remains active.

England, from Salida, was 32 years old when she disappeared in June 1980 when she never returned home from running errands.

She had reportedly been seen with another woman before she disappeared.

Her remains were recovered near Mount Shavano in 1992, but could not be identified until last year. The sheriff’s office said when her remains were identified that it appears foul play was involved in her death.

The sheriff’s office and Salida Police Department are asking anyone with any knowledge relating to the case to call them at one of the following numbers:

Chaffee County Crime Stoppers 719-539-5299
Det. Rob Martellaro 719-530-2617
Sgt. Andy Rohrich 719-539-5729
More information on the case from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation can be found here.

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GREELEY, Colo. – A Greeley man convicted in August of more than 30 counts related to the human trafficking and pimping of underage children was sentenced to 248 years in prison Wednesday.

Paul Burman, 33, received the maximum sentence possible for his conviction on 32 counts, including human trafficking, pandering of a child, child prostitution, and other charges relating to human trafficking.

The Weld County District Attorney’s Office says Burman acted as a “pimp” for several people, which included teenagers and adults. His youngest human trafficking victim was 15.

During his 13-day trial, Burman would drug his victims and put them up in hotels to meet with Johns. But he would take all the money the prostitutes made in a night, and sometimes beat or sexually assault them if they didn’t make enough money for his liking.

“Paul Burman took advantage of the vulnerable, but we sent a message to him and all the others who engage in this vile behavior: Your days of making money by sexually exploiting women are numbered,” Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said in a news release announcing Burman’s sentence.

Burman was originally arrested by law enforcement and the FBI in December 2014.

DENVER – One of the highest-ranking members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club cut off his ankle monitor and escaped from Denver District Court in late October just before he was sentenced on racketeering and drug trafficking charges.

Philip Duran, also known as “Bandido Fee,” 42, who is the National Sergeant at Arms with the Bandidos, escaped from court Oct. 28.

He was about to be sentenced, along with another Sergeant at Arms, Michael Mensen, and the Denver Westside Chapter President, Lorenzo Sojo.

The three were targeted as being the heads of a large drug distribution network that transported and sold drugs and guns across the western U.S., then laundered their money.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office and Metro Gang Task Force had been investigating the Bandidos gang and its criminal activity since Sept. 2014 in the sting, dubbed “Operation Tick & Flea Collar.” They used wiretaps and other investigation methods to put their cases together.

All three men had already pleaded guilty to violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act and felony drug charges.

Duran escaped custody just before his sentencing, but Sojo was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Mensen was sentenced to 24 years.

A warrant has been issued for Duran’s arrest, and Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward. Police say he should be considered armed and dangerous.

It’s unclear exactly how Duran managed to escape custody at the courthouse. National Sergeant at Arms is among the highest rankings one can receive in a motorcycle club. Those in that position are often tasked with keeping members in line during meetings and activities, but also keeping their members safe from outside threats and law enforcement.

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PARK COUNTY, Colo. – A former Adams County deputy who saw sexual assault charges brought by his ex-wife dropped last year now faces child abuse charges after one of his stepchildren was killed when a shotgun went off inside their home.

Jason Belmont, 45, faces investigation on child abuse resulting in death caused by negligence or recklessness and child abuse resulting in death with negligence charges, as well as six misdemeanor counts of child abuse without injury.

Belmont’s new wife, Stefanie Wray, also faces investigation on child abuse resulting in death charges.

The 2-year-old child was killed after being shot in the head when a shotgun being kept in a bathroom attached to the children’s playroom was knocked off a rack and went off.

A redacted affidavit for Belmont’s arrest says he showed up to a fire station on Nov. 13 to tell authorities a child had been shot at his Park County home, saying his cellphones were dead and that he couldn’t call 911.

Park County deputies who went to the home to investigate found the baby dead in the bathtub with the shotgun on the edge of the tub.

They said the entire house was filthy, and that there were walls and clothes smeared with feces, blood and urine throughout the house, where several other of Wray’s children also lived. There were also several makeshift “bedrooms” in the home’s basement made of plywood and unfinished, some of which had locks on the outside of the doors. Some of the children confirmed the “rooms” were their bedrooms.

The affidavit says that while the children were playing, several of them climbed up to look out of window in the bathroom, and one knocked the shotgun off a low-hanging towel rack.

The gun, which Belmont told officers he didn’t believe was loaded, went off, hitting the child in the head and killing him. Investigators say they found at least four other guns in the home as well.

Though the county coroner said the victim could not be identified to news media Tuesday because of the ongoing investigation, an obituary on the Dignity Memorial website names the child as John Paul Gaudreau III, saying he is survived by his “parents,” Jason and Stefanie.

Belmont was last in the news in March 2015, when the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office dismissed sexual assault charges brought forth against him by his ex-wife.

A warrant for Belmont’s arrest was issued by a Park County judge Monday, and Belmont was arrested by Chaffee County deputies Tuesday. His warrant carries a $50,000 bond.

DENVER – A lawsuit filed in federal court Monday alleges a U.S. Army Color Guard member, based at Fort Carson, permanently injured a man in a drunken beating after a rodeo the color guard performed at earlier that day.

The suit, filed by Brandon Bunting in U.S. District Court in Denver, names the United States as the defendant since it is responsible for the actions of Army members.

The suit says Bunting attended the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs on July 11, 2015 and had a spot at a nearby campground to stay through the next day.

Army Color Guard members were performing at the rodeo and some had also chosen to camp at the nearby campground.

The suit says some of the color guard started drinking early in the morning of July 11 and were under the influence during their uniformed performance that evening.

The drinking continued after the rodeo at the campground, according to the suit.

At some point after midnight July 12, a member of the color guard named David Benavides became “progressively belligerent and confrontational,” according to the suit, despite a sergeant – Daniel Martin – being at the campground and with Benavides.

The lawsuit says Benvaides, unprovoked, started punching Bunting, eventually knocking him to the ground, where he continued to punch and kick Bunting.

Bunting was knocked unconscious during the incident, according to the suit, which says he suffered “permanent” injuries to his head and face.

The lawsuit says two witnesses confirmed Benavides started the fight and that Sgt. Martin and other Army Color Guard members stood by and watched, despite the fact that they “could have intervened and prevented the injuries suffered by [Bunting].”

Bunting is seeking compensation for past and future physical and economic injuries, medical expenses, and past and future suffering and emotional distress.

Fort Carson says Benavides was discharged in April.

Fort Carson officials sent Denver7 the following statement in regard to the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon:

“Fort Carson is aware of the suit against the Mounted Color Guard and the U.S. Government.  The Soldier mentioned in the complaint was discharged from the Army on April 26, 2016.  We are not going to discuss any ongoing court case. We are cooperating with the Department of Justice during this situation.  Fort Carson expects its Soldiers to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the Army Values.”