Denver City Council President Rosemary Rodriguez called Thursday for a formal inquiry into why a convicted drunken driver and registered sex offender who ran over an East High School senior was allowed to chauffeur teenagers to their prom.
“In the season of high school proms, graduations and quinceañeras, parents have believed our children to be safer in a limousine than on their own. Regrettably, for one child, that was not the case,” said Rodriquez, referring to the victim, who had to have her leg amputated.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office said Stanley D. Sample, 38, of Lakewood was in violation of his probation for being in contact with minors for driving the victim, Molly Bloom, and about two dozen of her friends to their prom Saturday. At least two of the students in the stretch Hummer limousine, including Bloom, were 17 at the time.
“He should not have been around them if they were minors,” DA’s spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh said.
Sample pleaded guilty in 2002 to misdemeanor sex assault of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a felony. He was prohibited from contact with anyone younger than 18 during his four-year probation, scheduled to be completed in October, Walsh said.
Sample was arrested Wednesday on alleged probation violations, which also included not paying a fine. He could not be reached for comment.
Sample’s criminal record also includes two DUI arrests, one of which resulted in a conviction.
Sample disclosed his criminal record, passed background checks and claimed to have permission from his probation officer to be around minors, Richard Perricone, chief operating officer of 5th Avenue N Style Limousine said this week.
Perricone declined to answer questions Thursday, instead deferring to the company’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, who could not be reached.
Perricone said earlier this week that Sample had a proper commercial driver’s license required by the state, which gives companies permission to pick up and drop off anywhere.
But Rodriguez said Sample did not have a license to operate in the city of Denver, which is the only city or county that requires drivers to get a special license to pick up and drop off passengers within its boundaries.
Andy Poppenberg, owner and operator of Denver Lincoln Limousine, one of the oldest companies in town, said that the city has been lax in enforcing the licenses and that drivers don’t take them seriously because violations carry a meager $100 fine.
“It’s not much more than a parking ticket,” Poppenberg said.
“If there aren’t sanctions, then we need to come up with some,” Rodriguez said.
