Scottie Ewing details computer theft, media interest in Michael Hancock-Denver Players link

Scottie Ewing.

Swing-club king Scottie Ewing has become a central figure in alleged links between newly elected mayor Michael Hancock and the Denver Players prostitution ring that brought down Judge Edward Nottingham. When the Denver Post reported that a computer and files were stolen from his home on election day, he offered no comment. But he's done so now, by way of ripping Westword's coverage of the incident.

As noted in our June 8 post "Scottie Ewing-Michael Hancock link, election day break-in & the swing king's tangled past," Ewing, who's serving a six-month home detention sentence for tax evasion in relation to Denver Players, isn't exactly a big fan of this publication.

Back in 2006, he and his lawyer, Michael Andre, met with reporter Jared Jacang Maher and editor Patricia Calhoun in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the feature article "Swap Talk" from being published. (Andre committed suicide the following year after an eight-hour swat team standoff in Cherry Creek.) Ewing later told Maher, "You have no clue how close I was to having you put in the fucking hospital."

No such threats cropped up in an e-mail to Calhoun, but he did have strong words for yesterday's item, which incorrectly implied that his computer contained Denver Players records. Instead, he maintains that those records were in a box of documents that was also swiped. He takes us to task for not making the distinction before adding details about media interest in the material, first reported by Complete Colorado last Thursday.

Here's his note:

Read your story; as expected, lazy, incomplete and inaccurate reporting by Westword. The computer that was stolen was my personal computer and had nothing sensitive about the business I sold half a decade ago, those hard drives are long gone. Only personal things like family photos and random work files were on that computer, nothing of use to anyone. The stolen item of importance was the box of the original documents that every media outlet saw with their own eyes and already had limited video and still photos of. I mentioned to Peter Boyles that the documents weren't in my possession anymore because I was sick of interviews and showing them. EVERY reporter in Denver wanted copies or the ability to take them for a day and look through them, which I declined due to the sensitive nature of what they contain. Reporters were merely allowed to review them in my presence. They were in my home office in a closet with other personal documents which were also ransacked.

Great job of reporting inaccurate second hand information. It's why the Westword has to rely on Medical Marijuana and adult ads to survive. I speculate without that revenue, you guys would be struggling or out of business. And since you publish everything I say, "Hi mom!" ;-)

In a subsequent note, Ewing added that a reporter first began working on a story based on the records last November -- and 7News has confirmed that it's got video of files now said to be gone. It'll be fascinating to see what, if anything, these organizations do with the material. As for Ewing, he writes, "I'm done with this."

More from our Follow That Story archive: "Brenda Stewart, who fronted prostiution ring linked to Michael Hancock, cops a plea."