Two Montrose men and a Tennessee partner have been indicted on charges of fraud, forgery, attempting to influence a public official and 28 violations of the Colorado Hazardous Waste Act, authorities said Tuesday.
The charges against Joseph Casebolt, 73, his son Steve Casebolt, 48, both of Montrose, and Wayne Ratner, 44, of Maury County, Tenn., were made in connection with their Precious Metal Recovery Inc. business, which extracted precious-grade metals such as platinum and palladium from used automotive catalytic converters.
The trio are alleged to have enticed financial investors by promising significant returns while failing to disclose that the business generated hazardous waste, state officials said in a news release. That disclosure is required by state securities law.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced Tuesday that a statewide grand jury had returned a 44-count indictment against the men. Those indictments capped a two-year investigation that was done jointly with state and federal environmental and health agencies.
The indicted men allegedly stored, treated and disposed of hazardous waste on the Montrose County property.
Additional local news briefs:
LONGMONT
Domestic-violence suspect still at large
Longmont police continue to search for Alberto Salayandia, a domestic-violence suspect who fled police Sunday.
According to police, Salayandia broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment last week and held a gun to her head, threatening to kill her.
After the woman reported the incident, police said, Salayandia confronted another woman who witnessed the first attack at the corner of Alpine Street and Mountain View Avenue, police said. Salayandia got out of his car and threatened the woman with a pistol, firing three shots over her head, police said.
Shortly after the incident, police spotted Salayandia’s vehicle and followed the suspect. The chase ended in Platteville with the suspect’s escape.
Salayandia is thought to be armed with another semi-automatic pistol, police said.
MONTROSE
Grand Junction man dies in car accident
A car accident Monday in Montrose killed a Grand Junction man, police said.
David M. White died when he attempted to make a left turn and struck the front of Ernest G. Christie’s car, police said in a news release. Christie was transported to the hospital with injuries and later released.
ADAMS COUNTY
District will destroy confidential records
Adams County School District 14, in accordance with state and federal regulations, will destroy confidential special-education records for former students with dates of birth before 1977.
The records are being destroyed because they are old and taking up space.
If anyone wants to obtain copies of their records, they should contact Hilary Bryant in Student Services, 303-853-3250, by June 30.
DENVER
Mail ballots for May 1 election coming in
Voters in Denver’s municipal election have returned 42,000 ballots for the May 1 mail-ballot election, Denver Election Commission officials said Tuesday.
That figure is nearing the roughly 50,000 who voted in the January special election.
Election officials will be accepting ballots through 7 p.m. on May 1. Mailed ballots must arrive by that date. The city also has drop-off locations that will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 1.
The 42,000 ballots represent about 22 percent of the nearly 190,000 ballots sent out by the Election Commission.
About 3,000 ballots were returned as undeliverable. That was down sharply from the January election, when 30,000 ballots were returned after the commission mailed 287,000 ballots.
HUERFANO COUNTY
Weather damage closes courthouse
Court proceedings at the Huerfano County courthouse have been canceled for the remainder of the week due to building damage resulting from severe weather.
The county is conducting a structural analysis to determine whether it is safe to occupy the building.
Court will resume Monday, either at the courthouse or an alternate location to be announced later this week.
ST. GEORGE, UTAH
Brothers rescued from mountain
Three brothers who were stranded by a snowstorm on Pine Valley Mountain for about 24 hours were rescued Tuesday.
Ryan Shroyer, 30; R.D. Shroyer, 25; and Russell Shroyer, 17, were picked up by an Apache medevac helicopter from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Attempts on Monday to rescue the brothers, who are from the Central area, had failed because of bad weather.
The mountain is about 20 miles north of St. George and the men were at an elevation of more than 10,000 feet.
Ryan Shroyer said nobody was hurt. They ate snow while stranded, he said.
“It was nothing I couldn’t live through,” he said.
