Denver News Blog

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Sure it would suck to work here. But it wouldn't stab-yourself suck.

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We've all been there: Stuck in a job we hate, dreading showing up for even another day. There are ways to grin and bear it, but sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes you know just showing up will break you, and you've gotta stay away for a day.

There are plenty of decent ways to pull that off. Stabbing yourself is not one of them.

Timothy Barajas

​How did anti-graffiti detectives finally pop KOZE, leader of one of Denver's most notorious graffiti crews? By getting one of his associates to flip on him in court.

But the three mural-like graffiti "pieces" that prompted a jury to convict 27-year-old Timothy Barajas of seven misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and trespassing hardly represents the full body of work generally attributed to KOZE. As the below pictures and videos show, the man behind those four letters isn't your average fourteen-year-old tagger running amok with a broad-tip Sharpie.

"I've alphabetized the drama section for the last time."

​At about 6:30 p.m. on Monday night, Aaron Siebers reported that he'd been stabbed in Edgewater by "three skinheads or Hispanic males dressed in black" who tried to rob him. Trouble is, a surveillance video from a business where this alleged attack supposedly took place didn't show anything like what Siebers described. So the cops interviewed him again -- and this time, he reportedly admitted that he stabbed himself rather than go to work at a Sheridan Boulevard Blockbuster.

An insanity defense wouldn't seem like the best way to go for Siebers when fighting the false-reporting charge he faces, since everyone with a job at Blockbuster probably dreams of stabbing himself on occasion, making it a totally logical impulse. Then again, maybe Siebers could argue that a sane man would have turned a blade on himself a lot sooner than he did. Either way, we're pulling for him. We've all been there, Aaron!

"Sorry, officer. I didn't realize it was your Glock..."

​There are pros and cons to burglarizing a police officer, as someone did in Northglenn on Friday; a loaded Glock 26 handgun and a friend's 2005 PT Cruiser were among the items swiped. On the positive side, you gain legendary status among your fellow felons: "Robbed a cop? Stole his gun? You're a BAMF!" But there are negatives, too -- like, for instance, there's no chance this case will get lost in the shuffle and quickly forgotten. The police will keep looking and looking and looking long after you sold the booty for whatever you could get and spent it on meth. Exhibit A: The Northglenn Police's release, on view below:

Photo by Drew Jaynes

Some of the revelers at the Club Posh grand opening in February -- none of whom were injured in the drinking of this beverage.

​Club Posh, at 4040 E. Evans, debuted on February 20, and judging by our slideshow from opening night, a good time was had by all. But the fun was less universal during the early hours of November 1, when Halloween revelry ended with three shooting victims: one found by Denver Police Department representatives right away, another discovered a short time later, and a third who turned up at Rose Medical Center. Also part of the story: a shooting at an area McDonalds and a car chase that may or may not have had anything to do with all the bullets flying around. Obviously, there are a lot more questions to be answered -- but look below for what the DPD is saying thus far, albeit with references to the wrong date (just because there was a time change doesn't mean November 1 switches back to October 31):

Cesar Corzo's troubling past didn't stop Rite of Passage from hiring him.

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Reason number 13,456 not to do something dumb and end up in jail: Former social worker Cesar Corzo.

Corzo, you'll recall -- unless you've blocked it out, for which we couldn't blame you -- is the former Arapahoe County corrections worker accused of being a giant scumbag. As Alan Prendergast reported last week, Corzo is accused of: "bringing illegal drugs into the facility and giving them to his clients; presenting slide shows involving pornographic images during group counseling sessions; bringing in a former female client and allowing his clients to have sex with her; and instituting an 'anti-snitch policy,' whereby any of his clients who divulge what occurs during counseling sessions to outside parties will be (and were) beaten."

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You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to track these prints...

​Congratulations, Patrick Moat, Ryan Spear and Brian Coshnitzke. You've just put your marks in the History of Stupid Criminals -- marks shaped like the footprints in the snow police were able to follow to your door.

Greenwood Village Police Lieutenant Randy Corbitt tells the story, which gets dumber, and funnier, each step of the way.

Not a photo of the actual impersonation suspect (we're pretty sure).

​How convincing a cop was a 24-year-old Colorado Springs man currently being held on felony police-impersonation charges? Well, the vehicle he used was a gray 1995 Cadillac sedan, the sort of car preferred by eighty-year-old retirees or ride-pimpers getting ready for Cinco de Mayo, not the police. Instead of a red-and-blue bubble light mounted on top of the vehicle, he opted for a white strobe light in the front window and a flashing white-and-yellow strobe in back. (Maybe the Caddy used to be a mobile disco...) A Colorado State Patrol release describes his uniform as featuring "security guard patches and a gold security badge with the word 'Chief' printed at the top." And he capped off this ensemble with handcuffs and a black toy pistol.

Even Paul Blart, mall cop, could have seen through this disguise, which sounds like a Halloween costume less believable than any of those sexy-cop outfits on sale at Target. But Trooper David Hall isn't laughing.

"Don't we search you people for weapons before we let you in here?"

​UPDATED, October 29, 1:45 p.m.: The participants in this bloody no-love triangle have been named, and we've got a photo of the stabber, below the original item:

Not all mash-ups work: Even Glee-master Will Schuester couldn't figure out how to meld "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady with Sisqó's "Thong Song." But is it possible to combine the relationship craziness of The Jerry Springer Show with the blade-wielding action of prime Quentin Tarantino? Damn straight, as was proven outside the Arapahoe County District Courthouse yesterday.

Here's what we know so far, courtesy of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office: A husband and wife showed up at the courthouse for a divorce hearing -- but instead of appearing solo, the wife brought her boyfriend. Shockingly enough, hubby and boy toy soon got into an argument that didn't end until the missus' new squeeze pulled out a knife and stabbed her old bedmate (who's expected to fully recover). Then Bonnie and her Clyde fled, evading authorities for... well, for a few minutes at least, from what it sounds like.

Sounds like irreconcilable differences to us. Read the facts to date below:

A reminder, Jennifer Carter: Tape is for wrapping packages, not students.

​Palmer Elementary secretary Jennifer Carter has been formally charged with two misdemeanors in relation to an incident last week, when she allegedly dealt with a misbehaving six-year-old student by taping his hands together and his mouth shut.

Startling stuff, but hardly unique. Indeed, accounts of alleged abuse or mistreatment of students at the hands of school employees are becoming more common with each passing day. Here are five reports of conduct unbecoming of anyone, many but not all of them involving students with special needs:

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Take a spin in our new sub-sub-sub-compact.

​Last December, Catholic-school teacher Balazs Toth drove to a West Colfax McDonalds in the hopes of doing nasty things with a youngster he'd lured there using the Internet. Instead, he hooked up with members of the Denver Police Department, who promptly busted him -- and in June, he was sentenced to ninety days in jail and five years probation for a criminal attempt to commit sexual assault on a child. And as a bonus, tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., the DPD will publicly crush the car Toth used on the day in question.

According to Technician Loretta Beauvais, a DPD spokeswoman, the rationale for the crushing is that "the vehicle was involved in the crime. If our public-nuisance abatement unit classifies the vehicle that way, and if it was used to commit, conduct or facilitate sex assault or attempted sex assault, that's going to result in the crushing of his vehicle."

If only his testicles were in the glove compartment. Look below to learn where and when Toth's car will get the squeeze.

Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero once sold weed by the ton. Yes, the ton.

​Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero, 46, who entered a guilty plea Friday in regard to charges against him in Colorado and Arizona, isn't just any drug peddler. As one of the reputed leaders of Mexico's Sonora cartel, he became the stuff of legend -- and given that he's now admitted to trafficking over 100 tons of marijuana valued at more than $100 million during the second half of the '80s, the tales don't appear to have been exaggerated much.

Unfortunately, his Wikipedia page isn't as colorful as hoped -- but there's plenty of spicier stuff out there, including this from an old Geocities page:

Rite of Passage, where youth were "counseled" by Cesar Corzo.

​The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies looks into all sorts of bad behavior in numerous trades and professions. Not many DORA complaints can compete, though, with the staggering range of allegations found in the recent paperwork suspending the counseling and social work licenses of Cesar Corzo, 48, a former employee of a youth correctional facility who's facing criminal charges in Arapahoe County involving drugs, porn, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and "conspiracy to commit sexual conduct in penal institutions."

According to DORA, "the underlying [criminal] allegations include, but are not limited to, bringing illegal drugs into the facility and giving them to his clients; presenting slide shows involving pornographic images during group counseling sessions; bringing in a former female client and allowing his clients to have sex with her; and instituting an 'anti-snitch policy,' whereby any of his clients who divulge what occurs during counseling sessions to outside parties will be (and were) beaten."

Those sound like some intense counseling sessions. But wait. There's more.

This, my friends, is what three pounds of meth looks like.

​I'm a proud native of the Western Slope, and when I grew up in Grand Junction, the main substance we had to worry about was uranium. Those were the days. Now, reports about meth busts are the opposite of unusual -- although few can compare to the feds' roundup of alleged drug thugs operating as the La Familia cartel. Six suspects out of eleven indicted back in July have now been arrested, with three more joining them in lockdown earlier this week. Additionally, agents have gathered more than $300,000 in cash, eight kilos of cocaine and three pounds of methamphetamine -- enough to keep fictional teacher-turned-meth-manufacturer Walter White of Breaking Bad in business at least until the cancer kills him.

Look below for more photos (of drugs and dollars), as well as the Justice Department's account.

Jennifer Harris is doing 38 years for shooting her abusive boyfriend in the butt.

​This week's feature, "The Forgotten," explores an option for cutting prison costs that Governor Bill Ritter hasn't tried -- clemency for prisoners who may have received excessively long sentences and pose little risk to public safety. The article explores some of the more obvious kinds of sentencing inequities -- nonviolent drug offenders doing more time than rapists, for example. But other oddball cases keep popping up, like the stick-up artist doing 400 years.

Any discussion of sentencing disparity wouldn't be complete without some mention of the difficulties posed by domestic-violence prosecutions. Meet Jennifer Harris, who used to drive an ice-cream truck and live with an African immigrant named Mamadou Ballo -- right up until the day their frequent arguments turned into a desperate struggle for a gun.

How much of the truth is Ricky Lee Harnish telling?

​Many observers were shocked by the bargain prosecutors struck with Ricky Lee Harnish, who has confessed to killing teenager Holly Andrews in 1976 -- ten to 24 years in exchange for a second-degree murder plea. Even Clear Creek Sheriff Don Krueger admitted to "mixed emotions" about the length of the sentence. That's not the case for the victim's family, however. Linda Andrews, wife of Dave Andrews, Holly's brother, says everyone is extremely clear about their emotions: "We are very distraught. There's no way, shape or form that we would ever have accepted that. But the deal was already made, and we're quite upset as a family about it."

Fortunately, there may be a way to more than double the maximum number of years Harnish could face at his November 30 sentencing. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert says the 24-year max could be boosted to half a century if Harnish is found to have been less than truthful in some portions of his confession. Hence, authorities re-interviewed Harnish after the agreement was reached, and early this afternoon, Linda, Dave and several other family members will sit down to watch a recording of that session with an eye toward identifying inconsistencies in a story they already doubt.

James Craig, accused of being one sick bastard.

​For a certain brand of pervert, working as a coach at a kids gymnastics school would constitute a dream job -- and if the Aurora Police Department has 35-year-old James Craig pegged right, that dream is over. Craig, who worked at the Saddle Rock School of Gymnastics, has been arrested in relation to accusations of inappropriate sexual contact with an underage teenage girl. It's a single count thus far, but the APD has gone out of its way to share its theory that other potential victims are out there. If that's true, bet some parents will be flipping every bit as much as their kids during a floor routine. Look below to get the particulars.

Brett Klein, up for parole in a mere 381 years.

​This week's Westword feature, "The Quality of Mercy," looks at an option for cutting prison costs that Governor Bill Ritter hasn't tried -- reducing prison time for inmates who may have received excessively long sentences and are unlikely to pose a risk to public safety. The cases discussed in the article aren't necessarily the most deserving of clemency, but they represent different inequities in the system.

And when it comes to long sentences, few people can match the time heaped on burglar turned stick-up man Brett S. Klein.

David McCoy's reported request of job applicants: "May I watch you shower?"

​You remember David McCoy, right? According to the Boulder Police Department, McCoy says he operated a media business called (I'm not making this up) Zeus Pegasus International, and a while back, he advertised for a camera operator -- and a man from New Jersey flew to Boulder to apply. Upon his arrival, though, McCoy "revealed" that he's a doctor and a psychologist and wanted to conduct what the BPD called "trust-building exercises" -- like watching the guy shower and performing "false medical exams" on him involving "inappropriate" and "sexual" touching. All together now: Ewwww!

Well, last week, the BPD announced that McCoy had been arrested in Ohio and would be extradited to Boulder to face what are now described as "multiple allegations of luring young men to his apartment with promises of employment and then sexually assaulting them." But there's a problem: McCoy doesn't want to come back.

The grow houses had a lot of pot -- but was it going to dispensaries?

​In February 2008, as detailed in the recent Westword stories "Up in Smoke" and "Tales of the Dragon," DEA agents and north metro narcotics detectives uncovered an indoor marijuana ring the likes of which Colorado had never seen. As part of "Operation Fortune Cookie," investigators hauled more than 24,000 high-grade marijuana plants and millions of dollars out of cookie-cutter suburban ranch homes in the largest and possibly most complex pot bust in state history.

The drug operation closely resembled a grow ring that had been busted in Sacramento, California a few years prior. According to investigators, the Colorado version of the scheme developed in 2007 -- just about the time some of Colorado's first medical-marijuana dispensaries were popping up. Was there any correlation between the grow ring and the dispensaries? Jeff Sweetin, DEA special agent in charge of the Rocky Mountain field division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said he believed there was during a Westword interview last January. "I don't believe that's coincidence," he said, adding that in order to take advantage of medical-marijuana laws, "I believe they purposely moved that operation to Colorado."

But is there any proof to Sweetin's assertion? Was all the weed from "Operation Fortune Cookie" being used as medicine? The evidence suggests not.

​Governor Bill Ritter's modest proposal to parole hundreds of inmates a few weeks or months before their mandatory release date, thereby cutting millions from the state budget, has become the political whipping boy for his most opportunistic critics, from GOP legislators to Weld County District Attorney (and Senate candidate) Ken Buck to the hand-wringing editorial board over at the Denver Post.

But nobody has stomped on the issue with more enthusiasm than gubernatorial opponent Scott McInnis. In the latest in a series of blasts denouncing the early release plan, Sheriff Scotty accuses the guv of fostering "a clear threat to public safety."

Bar the door and pass the ammo, son. The streets just ain't safe no more.

​At this point, the folks at Aurora Public Schools really, really don't want to talk about an incident in which a Hinkley High student allegedly attacked a substitute teacher for taking her cell phone -- and related subjects are basically off-limits as well. Regarding the assault, media-relations specialist Paula Hans offers only an extra-general statement (on view below) focusing on a commitment to safety, etc. In addition, she does her best to shut down questions about the frequency of student violence against staffers (she doesn't recall a similar incident taking place since she came to the position in July 2007, and before that, she has no idea) or how many cell phones or other electronic items are confiscated at Hinkley or any other APS facility in a day, a week, a month, a year (if such stats are kept, she hasn't heard about them). What a gusher of information.

However, Hans does confirm that the district's discipline code gives principals wide latitude about how to deal with rules at their school pertaining to electronic devices. These guidelines treat cell phones and other gadgets like the unruliest children during the Victorian age: They shouldn't be heard or seen.

Anybody for locking up Ricky Lee Harnish for longer than 24 years? A show of hands, please.

​Ricky Lee Harnish traded a confession in the 1976 Holly Andrews case for a reduced charge with a potential ten-to-24-year sentence -- waaaay too sweet a deal for a guy who admits to raping and murdering a sixteen-year-old girl. Even Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger admits to mixed emotions about this bargain. But Mark Hurlbert, District Attorney for the Fifth Judicial District, says there's a chance the 24-year maximum could be multiplied by more than two if he and his staff determine that Harnish hasn't come clean with them. "If we don't think Mr. Harnish is telling the truth, then he's looking at a ten-to-fifty year sentence," Hurlbert says.

Get an eyeful of Stephen Dailey, accused baby shaker.

​Hard to believe that Stephen Dailey has never seen those public-service announcements warning people to never shake a baby -- even once. But if he did, the Denver District Attorney's Office believes he didn't take them to heart. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been accused of attempted first-degree murder and sundry other crimes associated with treating his two-month-old son like a paint can in need of mixing.

Took a while to pin down the charges: The incident took place on September 15. But Dailey's due in court tomorrow to face what looks like a shaky legal situation. Get more details in the release below.

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"I've been kidnapped. Not LOL. Not :)"

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Face the facts: Texting in cars can be a pain in the ass when it's done by drivers who pay more attention to remembering how many times to press the "3" button to get the letter "e" than they do to staying in their lane. But in the case of nineteen-year-old Boulderite, the only pain his vehicular texting caused was to the quintet of numb nuts now facing felony kidnapping and menacing charges.

According to the Boulder Police Department, said teen was forced into his own car by a man whose compatriots followed in a second set of wheels during a rambling tour of the area. Little did they know the victim was able to surreptitiously text his father to say he'd been abducted, leading directly to the five snatchers being busted in a grocery-store parking lot. They probably should have been thinking less about their munchies lust and paid more attention to what their victim was doing with his cell phone. Thank you, thumbs!

Here's the BPD account, complete with names of the busted:

Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger.

​Earlier today, I expressed astonishment that Ricky Lee Harnish, who's admitted to having raped and murdered teenager Holly Andrews in 1976, will likely face a sentence that maxes out at 24 years. Clear Creek Sheriff Don Krueger, in whose jurisdiction Andrews' body was found, understands this reaction -- because he's feeling something like it.

"I'm having sort of mixed emotions," he says. "It doesn't seem like that should be enough. But at 54 years of age, I don't know that it's not going to be almost a life sentence."

Leonard Bedon.

​Yay! You've just won some money playing the lottery -- and being as you're a 75-year-old woman, you can definitely use it. So you head to the nearest grocery store to cash out, feeling mighty fine about life in general. If only Leonard Bedon wasn't watching the whole thing over your shoulder.

That's the story told by the folks at the Denver District Attorney's Office, who believe Bedon followed the unnamed woman into the parking lot, snatched her purse and sped off, thinking he'd just managed to swipe somebody else's lucky day. Wrong: He was busted late last week and now faces twelve years behind bars. You are not a winner! Check out the DA's account below.

Ricky Lee Harnish mugs for the camera.

​Of course it's good news that 54-year-old Ricky Lee Harnish, the killer of Holly Andrews, who went missing in December 1976, has belatedly -- really belatedly -- taken responsibility for the crime. But the price of this confession was a reduced charge of second-degree murder and a likely sentence of between ten and twenty-four years.

Less than a quarter century in stir for raping and stabbing a teenager to death, dumping her body near Bakerville, and then skating for almost 33 years? Sounds like too rich a bargain, especially given DNA evidence against him. True, the deal means Andrews' family will avoid the heartbreak of a potentially drawn-out trial. But the scheduled November 30 sentencing won't be a breeze, either, particularly given the likelihood that Harnish will live long enough to breathe free again someday. If only the same could be said of Holly.

​In the early hours of New Year's Day in 2002, Denver police arrived at a home in Congress Park after dispatchers received a call about an attempted suicide. But when they arrived, the front door was locked, and the man, Kurt Sonnefeld, either wouldn't or couldn't open the front door.

Police eventually broke in through a window. They found Sonnefeld's 26-year-old wife, Nancy, slumped on a chair, a bullet in her head. She was still breathing, but she died shortly after. The gun lay on the floor, six feet away.

Eight years later, police say they're still hoping Kurt Sonnefeld's "conscious might get to him."

Leo Beitz

​When 20-year-old Leo Beitz visited an old friend in Boulder last weekend, they did what old friends do: Went out. Got drunk. Came home. Played video games. But at some point in the night, Beitz, for reasons that remain unclear, did some things old friends usually don't do: Grabbed a knife. Stuck it in a guy's belly.

The stabbing occurred after a long night of drinking, witnesses and Beitz told police, according to the Daily Camera. But that's where the stories part ways.