A 78-year-old man suffering from dementia who had been missing for three days from his family’s Highlands Ranch home was found Thursday in San Diego.
Roger Mattoon was found in a parking lot about 3:30 a.m. Thursday. A San Diego resident saw him walking around in the parking lot and called authorities, thinking the man needed medical attention.
Mattoon was taken to a local hospital where medical personnel found a Veterans Affairs card on him. They ran his name through a veterans database, which showed him to be a missing person from Colorado.
They notified his family, and the family was en route to California to pick him up.
Authorities believe Mattoon purchased a ticket on a Greyhound bus to California.
He was last seen Monday morning walking around his neighborhood.
DENVER
charter applicant told to reapply for ’08
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted 5-2 Thursday to yank the contract of a charter school that hasn’t opened yet.
The Denver Collegiate Academy asked the school board to wait a year to open so officials could find a principal and a building. Charter leaders wanted to open the academy as a middle school for Montbello students.
But board members approved the charter in November to open this fall. They decided Thursday that if the academy wants to open in 2008, it must reapply for charter status again this fall.
Board members Jill Conrad and Bruce Hoyt supported the charter school in the vote.
GOLDEN
Sex offender receives 20 years for assault
Robert Merle Reed, 42, of Golden was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 69-year-old kindergarten teacher.
The woman, who used a walker while recovering from hip replacement surgery, had been friends with Reed for more than five years.
On March 10, 2006, Reed went to her home under the guise of bringing her lunch and instead attacked and sexually assaulted her.
Reed, a registered sex offender for a previous assault, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of sexual assault, including one involving an at-risk adult.
DENVER
Mayor taps city’s first chief financial officer
Mayor John Hickenlooper Thursday named a private- sector financial executive to be Denver’s first chief financial officer.
In November, Denver voters approved a restructuring of the city’s financial system.
Claude Pumilia will oversee the city’s transition when he begins in April and takes over the city’s top financial post in January 2008.
Pumilia’s experience as a senior financial and business executive includes such Fortune 100 companies as Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. He was most recently at CA Inc. in New York. He also served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Co. Inc.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have been able to attract someone with Claude’s diversity of experience and track record of success in the private sector,” Hickenlooper said in a news release.
TELLURIDE
Deadline extended for buying open space
Telluride has a new deadline in the town’s attempt to raise $50 million to acquire the open space at the entrance to town.
Judge Charles Greenacre this week gave the town until May 21 to pay the $50 million that a jury determined was the fair price for the 570 acres of the Valley Floor owned by the San Miguel Valley Corp. and being acquired through condemnation by Telluride.
The town has nearly $30 million in voter-approved bonds and earmarked taxes, but the rest must come from private donations. Private fundraising has brought in $17.4 million.
The Valley Floor Preservation Partners had initially set today as an arbitrary deadline before the judge allowed 90 days from the date of the verdict rather than the 44 days the corporation had requested.
Preservation Partners director Jane Hickcox said the judge’s decision won’t slow down frenzied fundraising that has brought in everything from the proceeds of a dog parade to a $5 million pledge. The Partners still need to raise $6.6 million.
COLORADO SPRINGS
AFA cheating probe expands to 39 cadets
The number of freshmen Air Force Academy cadets under investigation for alleged cheating has risen to 39.
In early February, the academy began an investigation into suspected cheating on a military knowledge test. Since last week, the investigation has expanded from 37 to 39.
Of the 39 cases, 27 have admitted cheating, including 25 athletes. One cadet has resigned and 17 have been found in violation by their peers. Those 17 will either be placed on probation or expelled.
OLORADO SPRINGS
School can’t disprove mouse-in-chips claim
A middle school student’s claim of finding a mouse inside a bag of Frito-Lay barbecue potato chips purchased at a school lunch line appears credible, Lewis-Palmer School District 38 officials said Thursday.
The eighth-grade boy opened the bag of chips during a lunch period Wednesday, district spokeswoman Donna Wood said. A vice principal and the principal of the school interviewed the student’s parents and other children who were sitting at the table and determined the incident did not appear to be a prank.
Frito-Lay is investigating and the district has temporarily pulled all chips from its vending machines and lunch lines, Wood said.
A message left by The Associated Press at Frito-Lay’s Colorado Springs office was not immediately returned.
FORT CARSON
Sergeant found guilty of having child porn
A Green Beret sergeant was found guilty of possession of child pornography, including while deployed in Iraq, the Army announced Thursday.
The Gazette of Colorado Springs said Sgt. 1st Class Alan Eslinger was convicted late Wednesday in a court-martial that began Monday.
Defense lawyer Frank Spinner argued that Eslinger wasn’t responsible for the pornography found on his computer three times.
Fountain police reported Eslinger after his ex-girlfriend reported finding the pornography on his computer.
Eslinger faces a maximum 15 years of incarceration.
