Denver deputy arrested in jail drug sales, bribes
Investigators arrested a Denver sheriff’s deputy Wednesday for allegedly selling drugs and taking bribes inside the Denver County Jail.
Denver police say 34-year-old Solomon Mikael was selling contraband to inmates inside the jail, including marijuana and tobacco.
The investigation began in April, police said, and enlisted several agencies, including the Denver district attorney’s office, the Denver Sheriff’s Internal Affairs Unit and the Denver Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
Hired by the Sheriff’s Department in 1998, Mikael was put on administrative leave in November 2001 after a submachine gun he was issued disappeared.
Formal charges in the current case are pending from the Denver DA’s office.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Cadet chief cleared of pushing religion
The Air Force Inspector General’s Office has cleared a top Air Force Academy general of proselytizing to non-Christian cadets, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens said Wednesday.
Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida had faced seven allegations that he improperly shared his faith. The Air Force Inspector General’s Office in June cleared him of six of seven allegations, including his June 2003 “guidance” to cadets that said they are “accountable first to your God.” He also urged cadets and staff to pray.
The academy said the allegation of which he was cleared Wednesday was “using a religious communicative code to facilitate the proselytizing of non- Christian cadets.”
“Gen. Weida has readily acknowledged that his actions were inappropriate and has taken positive, visible corrective actions that reflect his true character,” Stephens said.
Last month, the Senate dropped Weida off a list for military promotions. The academy said his elevation to major general is still supported by the Air Force.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said it conducted an investigation at the academy that revealed the academy forced cadets to pray at certain functions and urged cadets to evangelize.
The Air Force set up a task force to investigate the claims. It said in June that it found no overt religious discrimination at the school, but there was a lack of sensitivity as well as confusion over what’s permissible in sharing one’s faith.
New religious-tolerance guidelines that clarify the rules have been issued by the Air Force, which are expected to become permanent later this year.
REGION
FBI appoints head of Colo.-Wyo. office
Richard Powers, who most recently worked at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., has been named special agent in charge of FBI operations in Colorado and Wyoming.
Powers, 49, who replaces Phillip B.J. Reid, was section chief in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of Congressional Affairs. He previously has overseen counterterrorism operations in Houston and has been a police officer in Joliet, Ill., and a state prosecutor in Orlando, Fla.
Powers said that as he leads the Denver regional office, he will continue to focus on counterterrorism, cybercrimes and gang activity.
Powers earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida and a law degree from Florida State University.
BOULDER
Ceres asteroid’s composition Earthlike
Ceres, a coal-black asteroid about 580 miles across, is more Earth-like than scientists imagined, according to a new report in today’s issue of Nature.
By pointing one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s cameras at the object for nine hours, they were able to determine that the asteroid is nearly round and slightly flattened along its equator. That means it’s not a solid object but is differentiated into layers: a crust, a mantle and a core, said Joel Parker, a researcher with Boulder’s Southwest Research Institute, one of the authors of the new paper.
All terrestrial planets have that kind of layering, he said, but asteroids smaller than Ceres do not.
ORDWAY
Pastor arrested after teen meeting alleged
A church pastor has been arrested on suspicion of attempted sexual assault on a child after he allegedly tried to arrange a meeting over the Internet with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Lucky Jerome Ashida, 44, pastor of River of Life Fellowship, was arrested Monday and released the next day on $50,000 bail, Pueblo County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Bryant said.
An arrest affidavit says Pueblo police Detective Daniel Anderson posed as a girl while communicating with Ashida in an online chat room.
The affidavit says that after a series of increasingly sexual chat-room exchanges, Ashida and the person he thought was the young girl agreed to meet at a park on Aug. 30. Police said they secretly videotaped Ashida looking for the girl there.
The detective, again posing as a girl, then told Ashida through the chat room she had tired of waiting for him and returned to school, police said. They arranged a second meeting at the same park for Monday, and Ashida was arrested after he arrived, the affidavit says.
Ashida did not immediately return a telephone message left Wednesday at the church.
DENVER
Council moves to shut public-access station
The Denver City Council technology committee has backed a move to shut down Denver Community Television, a public-access television station. Council members have expressed dissatisfaction with DCTV’s financial management and the airing of controversial and provocative programming that has included an erotic dancer.
The city plans to seek bids from other organizations in an effort to retain some type of public-access television.
BOULDER
NOAA: Solar flare may cause disruptions
A large solar flare was reported Wednesday, and forecasters warned of potential electrical and communications disruptions.
The flare, deemed the fourth- largest in the last 15 years, was reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Environment Center in Boulder.
Significant solar eruptions are possible in the coming days, and there could be disruptions in spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high-frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems, the agency said.
