A Colorado Springs man accused of taking three men hostage at gunpoint on Independence Pass now has been charged with possession of contraband in jail for allegedly using another inmate’s smuggled cell phone to send nearly 1,400 text messages to his family.
Pitkin County Jail officials in September discovered an inmate talking on the phone in his cell. A month later, a sheriff’s investigator got a court order to review messages that had been deleted from the phone and and discovered 1,379 text messages, most of which had been sent to members of Brolin McConnell’s family between Aug. 23 and Aug. 28, according to a police report.
On Oct. 20, investigator Brad Gibson went to the jail and asked McConnell if he wanted to talk about the text messages and McConnell declined, the report states.
McConnell has been charged with multiple felonies, including attempted murder, related to a July 27, 2016 incident in which he allegedly brandished two handguns when he took three men hostage on Independence Pass. He repeatedly threatened to kill the men, and fired shots at one man’s feet and next to his head, according to officials. All three men were able to run away from McConnell.
McConnell will face trial in March.
To read more of this story go to
