News

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

Andy Kerr joins Pettersen, Moreno in dropping out of race for Congress after Perlmutter recommits

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – State Sen. Andy Kerr became the third of four Democrats to drop out of the Democratic race for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District seat on Tuesday—a day after Rep. Ed Perlmutter announced he would seek re-election in 2018 after all.

Kerr announced Tuesday morning he was suspending his campaign—less than 24 hours after Perlmutter re-entered the race he had dropped out of just two months earlier.

What had appeared to have been one of the hottest 2018 races in Colorado cooled just as fast, as both state Rep. Brittany Pettersen and state Sen. Dominick Moreno suspended their campaigns Monday after Perlmutter’s announcement.

Kerr held out through Monday, but had conceded had thrown his support behind Perlmutter Tuesday morning.

“There’s a good reason to be excited about Ed’s decision to run for Congress again,” Kerr said in a video he posted to Facebook. “He’s a true-blue Coloradan that has spent more than a decade in Washington D.C. fighting for our values and making sure that we have a strong advocate for Jefferson and Adams counties.”

“I know that Ed will continue to push back against President Trump and Paul Ryan’s regressive agenda, and champion progressive solutions,” Kerr continued. “I hope you will join me in supporting him in his re-election.”

Kerr thanked his volunteers, staffers, supporters and friends for their help on his campaign, and thanked his family as well before saying he would continue as a state senator.

“Their love and dedication has meant the world to me. Thank you, I look forward to continuing working for the people of Colorado in my role as state Senator. It’s been an honor to have this opportunity,” Kerr said.

Both Moreno and Petterson endorsed Perlmutter as well. But Dan Baer—the fourth Democrat who had declared to run for Perlmutter’s seat and a former Obama administration hand—still hasn’t pulled out of the race.

A spokeswoman for Baer said Monday that Baer was traveling for his grandmother’s 90th birthday and wouldn’t have an immediate response.

When Perlmutter announced Monday he was re-entering the race after taking time to “regroup and recharge,” he said he had talked with Kerr, Pettersen and Moreno before making the announcement, and that he’d corresponded with Baer.

“They are all wonderful people and I know for them and some others my decision is not convenient or well timed, for which I’m sorry,” he said.

Pettersen had led the pack of four in fundraising, though all had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the campaigns.

Campaign finance records show Perlmutter ended June with $423,416 in on-hand cash. He started the year with approximately $72,000 less.

No Republicans have so far filed to run against Perlmutter in the district.

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

Ed Perlmutter will seek re-election to Congress after taking time to ‘regroup and recharge’

DENVER – U.S. Congressman Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., says he’s taken time to “regroup and recharge” and will again seek re-election to Colorado’s 7th Congressional District in 2018.

It’s been a back-and-forth few months for the Congressman from Denver, who is currently in the midst of his sixth term.

In April, he announced he would be running for governor of Colorado in 2018 in an effort to replace John Hickenlooper, who will be term-limited. 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.

DeGette, House Dems introduce resolution to censure Trump over ‘both sides’ Charlottesville comments

DENVER – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is co-sponsoring a resolution with three other Democratic members of Congress to censure President Donald Trump for his repeated condemnation of “both sides” at Charlottesville, in which white supremacists held a large rally and one of them allegedly killed a 32-year-old counter-protester.

DeGette is just one of more than 79 co-sponsors of the resolution, which was introduced at a Friday pro forma session in the House of Representatives. Its original sponsors are Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Pramila Jayapal of Washington—all Democrats. Continue reading

Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne files to run for governor of Colorado in 2018

DENVER – Colorado Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne filed last week to run for governor in 2018 after months of speculation over whether she would aim to take the office after her current superior, John Hickenlooper, leaves office due to term limits.

The “Lynne for Colorado” campaign committee for a possible run filed with the Secretary of State’s Office on Aug. 1, and Lynne made her candidacy official by filing with the office on Aug. 11. Continue reading

Anthem staying in Colorado health insurance marketplace next year, a boon to market stabilization

DENVER – Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado is definitely staying in the state’s health insurance marketplace in 2018, the state Division of Insurance confirmed Wednesday.

The company had already tentatively committed to offering plans in Colorado next year when it submitted a rate request to the state in June, but Division of Insurance spokesman Vince Plymell told Denver7 Thursday the final commitment “actually came in the last week or so.” Continue reading