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Crime Briefs: Shoplifting case turns up drugs and guns

A pair of thieves made off with items from the Glenwood Springs Sports Authority store, according to police. But when officers spotted the items in a nearby car they found a lot more.

Two men ran out of the store May 30 with their hands full of items, including gun-cleaning products.

Two days later an employee called police saying the pair was back in the store.



In a vehicle that one of the men had been spotted driving, police saw a gun-cleaning brush that the Sports Authority employee identified as stolen.

A search warrant for the car led police to find a plastic bag containing 0.8 grams of methamphetamine, four needles, several more smaller plastic bags and prescription pills.



They also found a sawed-off .22 rifle barrel, a loaded Ruger SR40 and a Smith and Wesson Model 22A. The serial numbers were filed off the rifle barrel and the Ruger.

A dog in the vehicle was transferred to Colorado Animal Rescue.

Police found that one of the men, a 21-year-old from New Castle, had been adjudicated on a sex assault on a child case five years ago.

The 21-year-old was arrested June 2 on felony charges of possession of a controlled substance, a class 4 drug felony, possession of a weapon by a felon, a class 5 felony. His misdemeanor charges included defacing a firearm and possession of a controlled substance. He was also charged with theft and possession of drug paraphernalia, both petty offenses.

The other man, a 22-year-old, has not been arrested in the case.

Rifle parents arrested in fight over child

Garfield County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Rifle couple early Thursday in a domestic violence incident originating in a fight over their child.

The husband, a 26-year-old man, said he and his wife had an argument over the treatment of his 4-year-old daughter, who was having an asthma attack. The mother wanted to take her to the hospital, while he thought giving her a breathing treatment at home would work.

Their argument became physical. The husband smelled of alcohol, according to police.

The wife, 23, had taken their daughter into another room, and at one point she pushed her husband out of the room and closed the door. He then punched a hole in the door.

She told police that he began pushing and hitting her. She said she began hitting him back in self defense. They wound up in the kitchen and he grabbed a knife. According to his wife, he said, “If you’re going to push me I will kill you,” and he put the knife to her neck.

He also had a fresh, bleeding scratch on his chest by the time police arrived.

She was arrested on a misdemeanor third-degree assault charge, and domestic violence was added as a sentence enhancer.

But he got the more severe charges of menacing, a class 5 felony, and the misdemeanor counts harassment and criminal mischief.

ex-husband arrested on stalking

Rifle police arrested a 45-year-old man June 6 accused of stalking and harassing his ex-wife.

The woman and a man she’d recently moved in with told police that the ex, a Rifle man, had been watching the house.

She said he had slashed her tires and threatened to burn the house down with her in it.

The woman feared for her safety and said he’d spent several years in jail and is on parole.

“(We) can’t take a walk without (him) telling us what we are wearing and other info to let us know he is watching us, (we) cannot go to local stores without (him) being there as well and purposefully making his presence known to us,” she wrote in a statement to police.

When the new boyfriend came home one day, the ex was sitting in a red truck outside. The ex approached him in the driveway and demanded to speak with the woman.

The argument escalated, and the ex threatened to assault the man and burn his house down, according to an affidavit.

The ex-husband was arrested on charges of stalking, a class 5 felony; harassment, a misdemeanor; and domestic violence was included as a sentence enhancer.

Police seek baseball bat menace

Glenwood Springs police are looking for information about a man who assaulted another male with a baseball bat on June 4. The man was reported to have been driving a green Pontiac G6 with temporary plates.

Police got reports that the next day the same man went through a drive-thru in the same vehicle and threatened an employee — again with a baseball bat.

If you have any information about this suspect, call GSPD at 970-384-6500 or submit a crime tip online at http://glenwoodpolice.com/crime-tips/.


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