YOUR AD HERE »

Crime Briefs: Failed mechanic wants his money

A 52-year-old Glenwood Springs man got a rude awakening in the middle of the night from a man beating him in the face with a pistol.

When he reported the assault at the Glenwood Springs Police Department the next evening, he still had dried blood on his face, in his hair and on his pants.

The victim said he knew his assailant, a 36-year-old Glenwood Springs man. He had tried to help the man get a job as a mechanic at the auto repair shop where the victim works. ”



But the employer told police he decided after only three hours of work that the man didn’t have the skills the auto shop needed. He later said he thought the 36-year-old was a “big-time drug dealer,” who was offering LSD to the victim’s roommate.

The victim said his assailant had lost a pair of keys at work, so their employer withheld $300 of wages from the 36-year-old.



During the attack the man demanded the money he was owed. Afterward the man discovered $23 missing from his room.

The victim said the pistol fired at one point, and the bullet might have grazed his head, according to an affidavit. He told police that “the round went into the wall and he began bleeding heavily from the head.”

The 36-year-old man was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, a class 3 felony; aggravated robbery, a class 3 felony; second-degree assault, a class 4 felony; menacing, a class 5 felony; and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

In addition, in a more recent incident, the same man fled on foot from Glenwood Springs Municipal Court, picking up a class 4 felony escape charge, along with the misdemeanors obstructing police and hindering transportation.

On May 3 Glenwood Springs police spotted him running on Seventh Street near the Garfield County Jail wearing “orange shoes, a black and white striped jail uniform, and handcuffs attached to a belly band.”

He descended the bank of the Colorado River, and as officers shouted for him to stop, he waded out into the river.

His hands were still cuffed at his waist, so he couldn’t swim. Officers shouted for him to come back so he would not drown and successfully talked him into coming back out of the water.

Meth found in stolen car

After tailing a 50-year-old Glenwood Springs man for suspicious activity in a Rifle business’s parking lot, Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team officers say they found him with methamphetamine and a stolen Oldsmobile.

They began to tail the man after he left a convenience store and headed east on Interstate 70.

The man pulled over at the New Castle McDonald’s and walked to a convenience, where he stashed the keys under the store’s hotdog warmer.

The man “is known to TRIDENT as a user and redistributor of illegal controlled substances,” according to an affidavit.

He “has been know to frequently visit and be associated to residences located within Garfield County that are tied to illegal drug use and or distribution,” the affidavit reads.

Dispatch later reported that the car had been stolen in Mesa County.

Officers confronted the man, who said he was buying the car from a Grand Junction man. The 50-year-old told police that he was high on methamphetamine at the time of this transaction, so he couldn’t remember all the details.

A K-9 unit detected narcotics in the vehicle, and in a search of the Oldsmobile, officers found a glass pipe and a candy wrapper containing “a clear crystal like substance” that tested positive for methamphetamine.

He was arrested on a warrant charging possession of a controlled substance, a class 4 felony, and aggravated motor vehicle theft, a class 6 felony.

ADDLED senior ACCUSED OF burglary

A 60-year-old Montana man, whose children say he suffers from mental illness and delusions, was arrested on burglary charges after deputies say he wandered into a house being remodeled and walked out with a golden eagle statue and a geode.

The Montana man was still near the house on County Road 129 when deputies arrived. His son owns a neighboring house.

He told police his son was interested in buying the house, and while he was nearby collecting river rocks he’d come to check it out.

The deputy wrote in an affidavit that the 60-year-old didn’t deny having gone into the home and didn’t seem concerned that he didn’t have permission.

The man was conversational about the nice artwork in the house. He said he had not taken anything.

Later, at the Garfield County jail, he explained that he’d only taken the eagle to clean it up, and the geode because he wanted to show it to a contractor working on his son’s house.

One of the man’s sons told police that his father has mental health issues; he suffers from depression and was in a manic state.

He said his father “has been causing problems in Montana and has gone into houses that were abandoned or up for sale without permission.”

The son said “his father needed to be arrested and he needed to speak with someone about his delusions.” He added that his father is a danger to himself and others, that he drives drunk and speeds.

The eagle was found in the son’s garage, and the geode was in the back of the 60-year-old’s truck.

He was arrested on charges of second-degree burglary, a class 4 felony, and misdemeanor theft.

His daughter later called police to say that he needs to be housed in a mental hospital rather than the county jail.

She has been working to get him help, but she has a protection order against him because she fears for her safety. She said her father “hears aliens talking to him and that he recently spent $225,000 at an auction which he cannot pay.”


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.