Crime in Denver declined 11 percent for the first seven months of the year compared with last year, officials reported.
Violent crimes – such as murder, robbery and rape – and property crimes, including burglary, dropped by 13 percent in each category, said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.
Disorderly conduct, fraud and prostitution arrests all increased, the report said.
Stolen property incidents decreased the most, with a 51 percent fall, but there were only 43 of that category in 2006 because it was separate from auto thefts, burglaries and larceny. All of those crimes decreased between 14 percent and 20 percent, the report says.
The Denver Police Department and the Office of the Manager of Safety are pleased to see crime continuing to decline through 2007, Jackson said.
WESTMINSTER
2nd suspect sought in Arby’s robbery
Westminster police arrested one of two men following a robbery at an Arby’s restaurant Friday, authorities say.
Police said they were looking for his alleged accomplice.
Ishamel Travis Mousley, 24, was arrested for investigation of robbery and is being held in the Adams County Jail on $750,000 bail, police said.
Police were searching for Darren Martin Pihl, 22, who, with Mousley, may be tied to numerous robberies in the Denver metro area, said Trevor Materasso, spokesman for Westminster police.
About 11 a.m. Friday, two men robbed the Arby’s near West 70th Avenue and Federal Boulevard and fled in a silver sedan.
Westminster officers said they spotted a car matching that description on Federal Boulevard near Interstate 76 and when they tried to pull the car over, the suspects sped away.
The suspects’ car crashed into another car at Speer Boulevard and Market Street in Denver. Westminster police arrested Mousley in the parking lot of the Auraria campus.
The other suspect was in the car but escaped, police said.
PAGOSA SPRINGS
Plunge off cliff kills motorcyclist
A 33-year-old Pagosa Springs man was killed after the Suzuki motorcycle he was riding spun out of control and rolled off a cliff on Colorado 151 late Friday night, officials say.
Jesse W. Buccini was thrown from a red 2007 GSF 1250 motorcycle about 10:15 p.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Colorado State Patrol report.
Buccini was westbound when the motorcycle began to spin and roll, the report said.
The motorcycle rolled 71 feet, vaulted in the air and rolled another 43 feet off the westbound side of the road, the report said.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Squirrel examined after biting toddler
Health officials are examining a squirrel that bit a 3-year-old boy on the finger Friday afternoon, officials say.
The boy was taken by his parents to Children’s Hospital in Centennial after he told them he felt sick from a puncture wound, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said in a news release.
A sheriff’s deputy was called to 5500 E. Briarwood Ave. in Arapahoe County on Friday at 4:45 p.m. after the injured and dying squirrel bit the child, he said.
Authorities will determine whether the squirrel was infected, Robinson said.
LARIMER COUNTY
Delivery driver halts magazine scam
Larimer County officials have arrested two men in a door-to-door magazine sales scam that authorities say primarily targeted the elderly.
Eloise Campanella, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said detectives in jurisdictions across northern Colorado are investigating similar activity.
The alleged scam was unraveled Thursday by a Schwan’s delivery man who became concerned after one of his customers told him she had written $300 in checks to two young men who said the money would be used to send magazines to hospital patients and troops overseas. The delivery man, Paul Sisneros, called police and directed them to the suspects in the 300 block of Diamond Drive.
“My customers are a little like family,” Sisneros said in a statement. “I see them at least every other week. I want to take care of them.”
Police said 20-year-old Kenneth Davenport of Rocky Mount, Mo., and 19-year-old Brian Flynn, a transient, are being held on suspicion of misdemeanor fraud.
STERLING
Man dies in crash with tractor-trailer
A 60-year-old man died when he drove a Buick Park Avenue through an intersection without stopping and crashed into a tractor-trailer, officials said. Rodney J. DeLong of Sterling was killed Thursday, said State Patrol spokesman Gilbert Mares.
DeLong was driving his car west on Logan County Road 24 and failed to stop at a stop sign at an intersection with County Road 35, Mares said.
The truck driver was treated for minor injuries.
DENVER
Psychic’s vibes about signs were prophetic
The owner at the small Psychic Experiences shop had a premonition something bad was about to happen to her signs. And about 10 p.m. Monday it did – an arsonist lit Sarina Evans’ sign, “Tarot card reading – $20” on fire.
The tarot card sign and an “Open” sign burned quickly and were destroyed, causing $150 in damage at the small shop at 3770 Grove St.
“I kind of had a feeling I needed to do something with the signs, but I didn’t really do anything,” Evans said Friday.
