Florida authorities’ release of a stalker who once said he would kill his former wife, bury her in the desert and wear her teeth as a necklace has outraged the family of the ex-wife and the Colorado district attorney whose office prosecuted him.
James Denman, 35, was released by a Florida judge on a $5,000 bond on Aug. 18 in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he is facing charges stemming from a 1999 incident involving his former wife, Nicole, and Nicole’s sister Cathie Freise.
“He’s a very, very dangerous man,” said Bonnie Roesink, the district attorney for Colorado’s 14th Judicial District. “I understand why (the family) is so afraid of him. I think it is a very scary situation.”
An assistant state attorney in Florida who worked on the case said Denman met the conditions for a $5,000 bond but that he, at least, was not aware of Colorado’s desire to track Denman’s whereabouts.
Denman had completed his four- year stalking sentence in Colorado but was under intensive supervision beginning June 21. He wore a monitor that tracked his every move, according to parole official Jim Fitzpatrick, a supervisor in the Westminster parole office.
That monitor came off, however, when Denman was extradited to Florida.
Nevertheless, Jeff Geist, supervisor of the Colorado Interstate Compact Unit, charged with monitoring out-of-state offenders, said Monday that authorities “know where he is and are keeping tabs on him.”
He would not say how often Denman must check in, although he said he believes Denman can’t leave Florida.
But Richard Ripplinger, the assistant state attorney for Pinellas County, Fla. , who is new to the case, said that as far as he knows, Denman is free to travel anywhere. Ripplinger said the judge probably set the bond according to a bond schedule based on the seriousness of the Florida charges.
Cathy Richards, Nicole’s mother, said Monday that she has no confidence that authorities know where Denman is and that Nicole is in hiding.
“The main thing she is worried about is his kidnapping the kids,” Richards said.
Denman was initially arrested in Colorado on April 11, 2001, after he showed up in Grand Lake behind Richards’ home. In his rented SUV, authorities found a rifle, ammunition, duct tape, a machete, pepper spray, handcuffs, a BB pistol and binoculars.
His former wife had fled to Grand Lake after Denman broke into her apartment in Boise, Idaho, wrote accusatory messages on a door, smashed numerous items and smeared mustard around the apartment, court records show.
She told authorities that the abuse had gone on for years.
Denman was convicted of stalking in Colorado and sentenced to six years, although that was later reduced to four.
Denman appealed his stalking conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court after the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld it. On Monday, the state high court refused Denman’s appeal.
According to Florida investigators, Denman kicked and punched Freise in the presence of Nicole before Denman pulled a gun, put it to Freise’s head and said he was going to kill her.
He was charged with one count of aggravated assault with a firearm and two misdemeanor battery counts.
Denman has denied that he threatened Freise and said that his threat to kill Nicole was “dark humor.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
