A man wanted by police for allegedly possessing an AK-47 assault rifle and suspected drug use at a motorcycle rally this summer was arrested Thursday morning in Gypsum.
Paul Ortega, 38, was taken into custody by a special-operations unit of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office on two felony warrants.
Ortega was wanted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on suspicion of possessing an AK-47 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in August, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
The other warrant is for failure to appear on charges of felony auto theft in New Mexico, Ortega’s home state, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Ortega has ties to the Eagle County area and was taken into custody on a bicycle path. He is being held at the Eagle County Detention Facility. Bail has not be set.
Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post
Speeding driver dies in crash after running red light
The driver of a speeding gold Cadillac was killed about 1 p.m. Thursday at South Colorado Boulevard and East Mississippi Avenue when he ran a red light, struck a car carrying a man and the man’s two children and became airborne, police said.
The Cadillac hit a light pole, and the roof of the car collapsed on the driver, a 22-year-old white male, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Jackson said the father and the children, ages 3 and 4, were not injured.
Police said the family had been traveling south on Colorado and was turning with a green arrow onto Mississippi. The Cadillac ran a red light, Jackson said.
The Cadillac driver was dead at the scene.
Man charged with sex assault on a child
A 34-year-old man was charged with sexual assault on an 11-year-old child, the Denver district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Randy Hatley was charged with sex assault on a child and sex assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, according to a news release.
The charges allege Hatley assaulted the girl twice in 2002.
He was arrested Tuesday and is out on bond, with a court date set for Monday.
Apology may clear charges for ex-city attorney
BOULDER — A former city attorney accused of harassing a neighbor in an argument over his dog has apologized as part of a tentative plea agreement that could wipe two misdemeanor charges from his record.
Ariel Calonne was cited on harassment and criminal mischief charges in June.
The neighbor, Beverly Potter, accused Calonne of threatening to attack her in an argument that arose after she told him to keep his dog off her yard.
Calonne has said the allegations had no merit. City records show Potter had called police more than 50 times in the past three years with complaints ranging from the location of parked cars to the noise from an ice cream truck.
Calonne was Boulder’s city attorney at the time of the argument with Potter but is now city attorney in Ventura, Calif.
His attorney, Steve Louth, said Calonne expects to receive a year-long deferred prosecution, meaning that if he stays out of trouble, the charges will be expunged.
House fire displaces 11
A house fire in Denver on Thursday displaced 11 residents – five adults and six children, according to the Denver Fire Department.
The blaze, at a duplex in the 100 block of South Perry Street, broke out about 2:15 p.m., said Lt. Phil Champagne, a Denver fire spokesman.
Champagne said the fire appears to have started in the rear of the building, and it took firefighters about 20 minutes to put it out.
No one was injured, Champagne said.
Laura Gillespie Lhevine of the American Red Cross said the fire displaced two families. The Red Cross offered assistance, but the families declined, Lhevine said.
Rep. Butcher quits leadership post in state House
PUEBLO — State Rep. Dorothy Butcher said Wednesday that she is resigning her leadership position in the Colorado House to spend more time running for Pueblo County commissioner.
Butcher said it would be unfair to the Democratic Party and her Pueblo constituents if she tried to keep her job as majority whip while running for the District 2 commission seat.
