New U.S. attorney for Colo. will focus on immigration
Denver – Troy Eid is looking ahead to his job as the government’s top prosecutor in Colorado, pointing to immigration enforcement as his highest priority.
“I respect what immigrants bring to the country so much,” said Eid after being confirmed by the Senate late last week. “We just have to enforce the law. It’s a really tough issue.”
Eid, 42, is a former legal counsel to Gov. Bill Owens and a lawyer specializing in cases involving environmental issues and Indian affairs. He awaits his formal commissioning by President Bush.
Recent debate over immigration has been “very positive” – leading to a new awareness among employers, local authorities and state officials, Eid said. “People are realizing we all have a role to play in it. It’s not just one or two government agencies.”
Eid brings an intimate knowledge of immigration issues. His father, the late Edward Eid, moved to the United States from Cairo in 1957. He grew up in Wheat Ridge, attended Stanford University and earned his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1991.
His wife, Allison Eid, became a Colorado Supreme Court justice in February. They have two children.
DENVER
Shooting leaves one dead, one arrested
A shooting early Saturday morning in southwest Denver left one man dead and another man held as a suspect.
Police said they received a report about 5 a.m. Saturday of a man with a gun in the 2900 block of South Vrain Street.
“By the time we got there, one (man) was dead,” said police spokesman Sonny Jackson. He identified the victim as Armando De La Rosa, 29.
The suspect being held is a 26-year-old man neighbors described as a nice guy who had been friends with De La Rosa.
DENVER
Residents complain of bed-bug infestation
Residents of a Denver low-income building owned by a group of investors, including basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, are complaining about a massive bed-bug infestation in the structure.
Denver health officials say the problem affects not only the 200-unit Halcyon House, 1955 Arapahoe St., but two other downtown buildings as well. City officials said the property owners – American Housing Preservation Corp. – have been battling the problem since February and have agreed to take even more aggressive measures.
Ellen Dumm, spokeswoman for the city’s department of environmental health, described the company as cooperative and said the owner has been using an extermination company to get rid of the bugs.
CAÑON CITY
Top cop’s wife pleads guilty in bar scuffle
The wife of Florence Police Chief Mike Ingle has pleaded guilty to charges she kicked a sheriff’s deputy who was responding to a bar fight.
Regina Ingle, 41, was at the Broken Spoke in Penrose on March 4 when Fremont County Deputy Carl Dryer responded to reports of a bar fight. While trying to detain Ingle, Dryer said, she cursed him and started mule-kicking.
In the scuffle with the deputy, Ingle hit the ground face first and was briefly unconscious.
Tests showed her blood-alcohol level at 0.28 percent. The state presumes impairment at 0.08 percent.
Ingle pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and third-degree assault. She received an 18-month deferred sentence and 48 hours of community service and must undergo an alcohol evaluation.
Dryer, placed on paid leave pending an internal investigation, has returned to duty after being cleared of wrongdoing.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Sen. Salazar: GOP move hurt workers
Republicans in the Senate denied American workers an increase in the minimum wage by combining it in proposed legislation with a reduction of the estate tax, Colorado Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar said Saturday.
“It was political blackmail, and an example of the cynical politics we have all grown tired of in the last six years,” Salazar said in a weekly Democratic radio address.
“We need a new direction for America, and a new Congress that works for our common good.”
The Democrats are trying to regain control of Congress in the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
The Senate fell four votes short of the 60 needed late last week to move forward on the legislation. Republicans said they intend to try again on the estate tax and will seek to turn the issue to their political advantage.
DENVER
Jury finds “designer” guilty of swindling
A jury took just three hours to convict Christine Speros of eight counts of theft, eight counts of criminal impersonation and one count of unauthorized use of a financial transaction device after prosecutors last week presented a detailed portrait of a woman they said was a skilled con artist.
Her bright personality, ability to talk like an interior designer and her claims of personal wealth resulted in banks, associates and businesses being bilked out of $150,000 in a matter of months, prosecutors Melanie Names and Ken Laff argued.
Speros, 48, claimed she had $1.2 million in sales and $625,000 in assets. She opened checking accounts at Compass Bank, Key Bank, Washington Mutual Bank and Bank One – all of which soon ran into trouble when there wasn’t enough money to cover the checks she wrote.
FOUNTAIN
Nude body of man found along creek
Police are investigating a nude body found Saturday afternoon in the Fountain Creek area, between Hanson Nature Trail and Duck Wood Park.
The body was discovered by an equestrian riding along the creek bottom and is of a white male between the ages of 40 and 55.
The man’s identity was unknown, and there was no obvious cause of death.
