Traffic: Non-parking – 49
City Ordinance – 5
Miscellaneous – 13
Traffic Parking – 1

On 9/3/18 the Nederland Police Department was contacted at approximately 11:40 a.m. by a male party who was visiting from out of town and had found a handgun approximately 3 miles down the Peewink Mountain Trail, FS 332. Being aware that there was not a mountain deputy on duty in the area and that the male party was flying out that afternoon, NPD officers chose to take possession of the weapon and accompanying 8 rounds of .40 in a magazine. Referencing a trail map on his phone, the male party was able to identify the approximate location the gun was found. It was determined that the gun was found in the middle of the road near another route that looped off to the north and rejoined the FS 332 further down the road. The male party had been exploring with his rental Jeep near a pull off camp site. He reported the gun was found in a black holster with the magazine loaded but no round in the chamber. He removed the magazine and placed it in the holster holder before bringing it to town to turn in to police. The officer reports that it was clear that the gun had fallen accidentally into the road and he processed the weapon according to procedure.

On 9/6/18 an NPD officer was dispatched to Chinook West School/TEENS, Inc parking lot at 1 p.m. on a report of a green Saturn passenger van with Idaho plates with a suspicious individual either sleeping or intoxicated to the point of unconsciousness. Upon arrival, he made contact with a male party and a female party. Both individuals were sleeping in the van upon the officer’s arrival, in the school parking lot, during school hours. Dispatch informed the officer of an arrest warrant out for the female party in Idaho with a $10,000 bond for burglary. Upon informing the female party of the warrant, she stated she had been made aware of her status while in Vermont and was on her way back to Idaho to take care of it, because Nederland is on the way to Idaho. The officer then informed her that the warrant is valid in Colorado and that he would be taking her into custody for extradition to Idaho by the originating agency. Both parties were extremely compliant.

On 9/13/18 an NPD officer was dispatched to the Sundance Lodge on a call that a male party had punched a female party in the nose. Driving with emergency lights on, he arrived to see a black Chevrolet Camaro with Texas license plates, which was later reported, in front of a unit with the door open and a male party visible inside the unit. As the officer approached the entryway, the male party came to the doorway partially clothed to speak with him while a female party followed to stand diminutively beside him.

Right away the male party stated that he and the female party, whom he referred to as his girlfriend, had had an argument that spilled out onto the front step of the unit, and that his girlfriend had exclaimed, “My nose!” but that everything was fine. When the officer asked the female party if she had a broken nose, her evasive answer prompted him to re-ask the question, to which she offered no reply. The officer reported that the female party appeared to be submissive in demeanor, she barely spoke at all, and was standing very close to the male party and appeared to be trying to make herself small.

The male party had stepped outside while explaining the scenario; the officer asked him if he had anything in his pockets to which he replied he had his car keys and money. He removed the items and placed them down inside a small refrigerator just inside the door of the unit. The officer then told him that for safety, he was going to cuff him until the situation was resolved. Shortly thereafter, he had the male party’s hands cuffed behind his back, had searched for weapons, and had the male party placed in the patrol vehicle on the driver’s side.

While awaiting the arrival of Boulder County Sheriff deputies, he collected the female party’s ID and had Boulder County Communications run it for any outstanding warrants or other issues. He also asked her if the black Camaro belonged to the male party, which she affirmed. The officer then spoke with the male party in the back of his patrol vehicle and was told that the female party suffers from a mental illness and “has fits,” and that she refuses medications, preferring to treat her illness with herbs. He also reported that their argument had been over finances.

The officer then gathered identification information from the male party and discovered he is from Maryland. When checking for information on him through Boulder County Communications, he was told that the male party had a nationwide extraditable warrant out for his arrest. The subsequent arrival of Boulder County deputies resulted in the male party being transferred to Boulder County Jail.

The officers granted his requests for his shirt and money to be returned to him, his keys to be turned over to the manager of the motel and his vehicle to be moved to the back of the building and left there. The female party became distraught while communicating with the Boulder County deputy once the male party was transferred to Boulder County Jail. While on site, the other Boulder County deputy noticed a shirt button on the floor of the unit in the location of the reported altercation.

On 9/16/18 a Nederland Police Department officer was patrolling eastward down West Boulder Street. While passing the Alpaca Store he was approached by a male party who reported that he had found two jackets outside of the store in the street that he believed were the property of “some hippies that are always annoying him by hanging out at Happy Trails Café” located directly across the street. He then found the front door of his establishment unlocked. He then reported that he also found the back door to the former hostel left open and he had noticed an unknown party had used the shower room off the kitchen on the lower floor, leaving remnants of toilet paper laying on the floor, which the unknown person had used to dry off.

He told the officer that he only has one guest lodging at the moment, and that he is an employee of the property owner. He said that he had been approached by a male described as scruffy with dreads and a beard, who told him the jackets were his. A person matching this description was currently seated on the deck of the café. He was waiting for a friend to join him and had a male party seated with him. This party confirmed the other male party’s story of having left his jackets by the hotel, so he could go between the store and the hotel to smoke and he had forgotten to retrieve them once he left to meet his friend for breakfast. He refused to identify the party he was waiting for. The officer determined he did not have sufficient evidence to charge any suspect at the time.

On 9/23/18 a Nederland officer was contacted by a male party at the Police Department, and upon clearing the party through Boulder County Dispatch, he was informed the man had an active warrant out for his arrest issued by Boulder City Police for alcohol consumption in public. Having confirmed the warrant, the officer placed the party in custody and had him transferred to Boulder County Jail without incident. The male party was polite and cooperative throughout the event.

On 9/26/18 an officer was dispatched at 10 am to the parking lot east of 35 E First Street to meet with a female party, who asked the officer to look at her 2014 Ford Passenger Van because she wanted to report that her crystals, medicine bags and bones were stolen from the rear view mirror of her window along with the mirror itself, a high tech item valued at what he estimated to be $700-$800. He observed that all 4 windows were down 8-12 inches with the rear wiper broken off at the motor, damaging the motor.

There was a pile of clothes and jumper cables lying on the ground outside the van, and someone had used their finger to write the words “Love Ya” in the dirt on the side of the van. The female party reported that she had left her van overnight after working her shift at a local establishment. She believes that the person who broke in to her van and was responsible for all the damage was a male party who knows her van well and held unrequited romantic interest in her. As she was reporting this to the officer, the male party she was identifying arrived on scene wearing crystals around his neck, but none belonged to her. He displayed an attitude contrary to one typically expected of a man in love with someone who had just been robbed, though he offered her some of his own crystals and medicine bags as replacement. He claimed not to have prior knowledge of the stolen items. At this time, the owner of a neighboring establishment came out and told the male party to leave, reminding him that he was no longer welcome on the property.

To note by the officer, the male party was arrested for auto theft later that day, and a couple of items found in the car were shown to the female reporting party but none of them were hers. Another NPD officer then spoke with her about the items and she disclosed that the suspected male party had in fact been stalking her. Upon looking over the van, the NPD officer felt there were no specific locations where evidence could be reasonably collected, i.e. fingerprints where the words were written in dust.

On 9/27/18 at 11:17 am, Ned PD was dispatched to a reported auto theft that had occurred 10 minutes prior. An officer took the report directly from the owner of a blue Subaru Forester with a missing rear window. The officer went out separately, driving southbound on Highway 119 searching for the vehicle and suspecting that a known male party may have the vehicle due to some unusual comments he had made to the officer when he was on scene of a vehicle trespass situation the day before: “You should check out this car at the RTD lot, I think it’s stolen or something.” When asked what car and why, he described the blue Subaru with a broken back window and something wrong with the steering column.

Finding the comments odd, the officer later looked for the vehicle to no avail. As he drove south, he saw the suspect vehicle being driven on Big Springs Drive at the intersection of Highway 119. When the driver saw the patrol car, he turned North onto the highway. The officer flipped his car around and turned on his lights signaling for the suspect vehicle to pull over. The suspect pulled the vehicle over voluntarily one block north of W. Boulder Street. The known male party that the officer had suspected stepped from the vehicle. When the officer asked him who’s car it was, the male party replied, “my Uncle’s,” and proceeded to provide the name of his uncle.

He had a flip phone, a CD and an ion battery all in his hands and he voluntarily identified the items as his own. When asked the whereabouts of his uncle, he replied that he did not know, that he was out looking for him and believed him to be “drunk of something.” When asked where his uncle is currently living, the male party had no reply. Having previous knowledge that the owner of the car is new to town and currently transient, the officer told the male suspect to return to the end of the vehicle and stand near the side, as he was in the process of relaying all the information to dispatch and another NPD officer.

The suspect returned again to the patrol car to speak with the officer and turn over the keys to the car with a declaration that a knife would start the car. When asked why he was driving the car, the suspect stated that he was helping the owner of the car out with some work washing windows at the Thai restaurant. He proceeded to tell the officer that he had permission to drive the car from its owner and stated that when the owner is too drunk to drive it, he is to drive it for him. He was then asked when the suspect was given said permission and the suspect reported it to have been 1.5 hours ago.

He returned to the end of the car while the officer awaited another officer to locate the vehicle owner. At this time, the suspect was observed returning the items he had been holding and claimed were his own into the car through the passenger window and used the cell phone. He again returned to the patrol car wanting to talk. When asked where he was going in the vehicle, he reported that he was on his way to meet his girlfriend for lunch at a local establishment. The suspect had left his minivan parked next to where he had taken the Subaru, which was 3 blocks away from said local establishment. He claims to have lost his own keys.

At this time the other officer arrived on scene accompanied by the owner of the vehicle in question. The officer on scene described the items the suspect had pulled from the car and the owner of the car confirmed all were his but the CD. He reported that he had met the suspect a few days prior to the incident and had agreed to hire him to perform some of the window washing jobs he had recently contracted with local businesses. He claims to have never given permission to the suspect to drive his car, and that the suspect parked his van next to his car where he often left the keys because he only used them to lock the car, not operate it and he was only working across the street.

The suspect was taken into custody at this time and placed in the officer’s patrol car. The owner of the car was asked to search his car for missing items or items that did not belong to him with particular emphasis on any drugs/paraphernalia due to the fact that in a separate incident earlier in the week involving the suspect there had been a baggie found in a vehicle he had been involved with that had contained residual cocaine. He reported missing a pouch containing proof of insurance, towing information and registration and finding a dinosaur book and a pair of sunglasses. He also found that his own pair of sunglasses were broken.

The suspect had, on a previous day, been transported to Boulder Community Hospital on a medical hold after throwing a rock at a window of a local business without breaking it, acting out of control and admitting to being under the influence of cocaine. He is now banned from at least two businesses in town.

On 9/28/18 at approximately 6:07 p.m., an NPD officer was dispatched to a report of auto theft in the parking lot of the B&F Mountain Market. A local married couple had been driving through the parking lot when they recognized their Subaru in the lot and decided to block it into its spot with their SUV until police could arrive. The male party had parked the Subaru in the RTD lot a week prior pending dropping it off for engine repair work at an auto shop. He had left tools, a motorcycle helmet and some various motorcycle parts in the vehicle. Another male party was seen currently using the vehicle when it was found parked in the lot. Gilpin County deputies arrived on scene to assist NPD officers and approached the male suspect, asking him the circumstances of how he came to be operating the Subaru.

The suspect reported that he had made a deal with a male party operating out of a white van with sharpie marker designs drawn on the driver’s side door and multiple random items inside. He did not know his name but when shown a picture of a suspect he was easily able to identify the male party as the seller.

Having met the seller at the RTD Park N Ride lot on the afternoon of September 26, 2018, he was given an offer to fix the van in trade for the Subaru, and also offered a gold necklace as part of the exchange. He never mentioned how the seller entered the Subaru, only that he began removing things from the vehicle and handed him the vehicle information book where he found a title out of New Mexico as well as a registration card both listing another party as the owner. The keys he had found in the car did not unlock the steering wheel and start the vehicle, so he took apart the steering column and used a screw driver to start the vehicle. The suspect claimed he was going to confront the seller about the title but was in the process of attending some appointments first when he encountered the true owners of the vehicle.

The victim had claimed to have left the car locked in the lot and to be in possession of both sets of keys, stating that only family members would have permission to drive it. The keys the suspect found in the vehicle were a post office key, a house key and a key to a different vehicle. The items the victim listed as having been left in the vehicle have not been located. After confirming with Boulder County Communications that the victim is the true owner of the Subaru, the officer offered the suspect an opportunity to write out an account of how he came into possession of the vehicle but after three pages there was no reasonable explanation for how he had purchased it or had proof that the seller was the legal owner of the vehicle. He was therefore arrested and subsequently transferred to Boulder County Jail.
Due to a previous report of the seller being arrested for auto theft, NPD officers found grounds of reasonable suspicion to search the van the seller had been reportedly operating that is registered in Gilpin County to a separate party. Inside, there were previously observed several items which included a motorcycle helmet but by the time the victim had been brought to the van to identify the items, they had been removed.

(Originally published in the November 15, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)