Jeffco jail inmate’s death investigated as a suicide
A woman held in the Jefferson County Jail by the U.S. Marshals Service died Sunday at a local hospital after deputies found her during a routine check at 9:40 p.m. Thursday lying on the floor of her cell with a pair of socks wrapped around her neck.
If the woman’s death is ruled a suicide, it will be the third such death in the jail this year. Jeremy Benson, 26, hanged himself with a bedsheet from an upper bunk in March. In February, Everett Horton, 44, hanged himself in his cell by attaching a sheet to a handle on a cell door.
The woman’s name is not being released pending notification of family members. The spokeswoman said she had been at the jail since June 24, on a U.S. Marshals Service hold.
She had been indicted for attempting to damage and destroy a government vehicle and other property by fire and explosives, and for threatening to assault and kill federal law-enforcement officers.
“Although the investigation is still ongoing, all indications are that the inmate committed suicide while alone in her cell,” a Sheriff’s Office statement said. The Jefferson County coroner is conducting an investigation into the cause of death.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Plane-crash victims were from Steamboat
Two Steamboat Springs men, Lou Marina and Greg Kyprios, were identified as the victims of a plane crash Saturday near Rabbit Ears Pass.
The crash of the Lancair Columbia turboprop plane was reported by a hunter about 7:30 that night, and the wreckage was found by searchers Sunday morning on Walton Peak.
The two men reportedly were returning to Steamboat from Iowa.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were on the scene Monday trying to determine the cause of the crash.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Man gets 96 years for killing girlfriend
A 25-year-old Arvada man convicted of shooting his girlfriend in the head was sentenced Monday in Jefferson County District Court to 96 years in prison.
Cesar Pasillas-Sanchez was found guilty of second-degree murder in the March 2003 death of Sheena Archuleta. He told police Archuleta had committed suicide, but police said they found blood on his hands.
Records show police had been to Pasillas-Sanchez’s home at least once on a domestic- violence call, and prosecutors argued there was an ongoing pattern of abuse.
Arvada police said they found up to $150,000 in stolen property in the home, plus seven guns, cocaine, heroin and the drug Ecstasy.
AURORA
City Council OKs rules for pit bulls
The Aurora City Council gave final approval Monday night to an ordinance banning new pit bulls and creating a host of restrictions for current pit-bull owners who wish to keep their dogs.
The ordinance goes into effect at the end of November, giving pit-bull owners 60 days from that point to get $200 annual licenses, have their dogs equipped with a microchip and obtain proof that the dogs are neutered or spayed. There are other regulations, including securing the dogs in locked pens and posting warning signs on the home entries about the dogs.
The council approved the ordinance 6-3, adding a provision that allows people 21 or older to play with the dogs in yards with fences at least 6 feet high.
With the ordinance, Aurora becomes the second-largest city in Colorado to ban the dogs. Denver’s ordinance was passed in 1989, upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court in 1991 and reinstated in May after surviving a statutory challenge by the legislature. Commerce City also recently approved a ban against pit bulls.
DENVER
Retired cops angry over health premiums
About 80 retired Denver police officers and their spouses filled the auditorium at police headquarters with complaints about booming rates for their health care insurance Monday afternoon.
They complained that a PacifiCare increase of 68 percent for 2006 would, in some cases, make the premiums exceed their pension checks.
“We as a Police Department are subject to the same health care crisis as the rest of the country,” said Patrol Division Chief Steve Cooper. “They just got their rate increase a week ago, and they’re desperate to try and figure out what they can do.”
Cooper said the PacifiCare rates are climbing from $1,462 to $2,484 a month for family coverage; from $1,012 to $1,719 a month for two-party coverage; and from $507 to $862 a month for single coverage. He said the pension of some retired patrol officers doesn’t reach $25,000 a year.
Chief Gerry Whitman said he wants to form a group of active and retired officers to develop a strategy to deal with the health care insurance crisis “before we all get priced out of the market.”
He said the department is trying to figure out a way to raise money to help the retirees pay the elevated rates for 2006, maybe through donations and even a bake sale.
“I’ll bake something myself if I have to,” Whitman said.
DENVER
Grant to help fight human trafficking
The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice was awarded a $400,000 grant to fund the state Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking.
The grant was provided by the U.S. Department of Justice to support the task force, created in a law sponsored by Rep. Alice Borodkin, D-Denver.
The grant will allow the task force to provide victim services, community training, law- enforcement training and collection of human-trafficking data in Colorado.
Denver police announced this week the arrests of 35 madams, johns and prostitutes in a six- month sting of illegal massage parlors in the city. Sixteen parlors were shut down.
DENVER
State Patrol seeks tips on hit-and-run fatality
The Colorado State Patrol is seeking help from the public in locating the driver of a minivan that was seen hitting a pedestrian on the West Hampden Avenue service road west of South Pierce Street on Friday night and then fleeing the scene, Trooper Eric Wynn said.
The 30-year-old man who was struck died Sunday at Swedish Medical Center.
His name wasn’t released pending notification of relatives.
The man was walking along the service road about 7:25 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle traveling in the same direction, Wynn said.
A witness saw a light-color minivan, from the 1980s or 1990s, with windshield damage fleeing the scene.
Anyone with information about the accident or the minivan is urged to call the State Patrol at 303-239-4501.
