Pipe bomb left in Boulder County park; teenager arrested

An arrest has been made in connection to a pipe bomb that was found in a Lafayette city park early Tuesday.

Evan Irons, 18, of Lafayette is charged with use of incendiary devices, a class four felony, and with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.

Irons was at the park when another man found what looked to him like a pipebomb on Tuesday and took it home before calling authorities.

The Boulder County Bomb Squad safely removed the bomb that was described as 6 to 7 inches long.

In the investigation, officers interviewed Irons as a man who was described as acting suspicious while at the park.

Irons has been booked and transported to Boulder County Jail.

Button-down-shirt bandit hits Fort Collins bank

A Fort Collins bank was robbed at 9:39 a.m. today.

Fort Collins police said the man entered the Key Bank, 100 E. Drake Road, through the front door, approached a bank teller and demanded money.

The robber did not show a weapon or indicate to the teller he had a gun, said police.

He left the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Dozens of cops to quell CoSprings bar riot

Video here.

Multiple fights broke out at a Colorado Springs night club early this morning as about 500 people left a rap concert, according to Colorado Springs Police department blotter.

The first officer to arrive called for massive back up – up to 30 patrol cars streamed to the scene – to quell the unruly mass.

The incident unfolded at about 1:58 a.m. at Club Shots, 3958 Academy Blvd., police said.

The rambunctious crowd was hit with pepper spray and one person was Tasered, police said.

Police made multiple arrests including, one for assault on a peace officer, two for obstruction and one for disorderly conduct.

Daniel Sims, 21, was arrested on the assault charge, police said.

There were no major injuries reported, according to the blotter.

Fort Collins park hit by senseless vandalism

Someone took a machete or axe, walked down a path at Fort Collins’ newest community park and hacked down 19 trees Tuesday night, leaving city officials and local residents appalled by the destruction.

When Doug Kokes, a crew chief with the Fort Collins Park Department, arrived at Spring Canyon Community Park at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday he couldn’t believe the havoc the vandals had caused.

Strewn along a path in the park were a variety of trees, laying on their sides.

“It was disappointing. We tried to develop the park into a beautiful place,” said Kokes. “It is very disappointing.”

He said neighborhood residents are very upset, unable to comprehend why anyone would engage in such vandalism.

When the park opened in 2007 the young trees were an integral part of the park’s development.

Ralph Zentz, the city’s assistant forester, said he couldn’t believe what he saw when he got to the southwest Fort Collins park Wednesday morning.

“I saw the first two trees and said ‘this is bad’,” Zentz recalled. “Then I rounded a bend and saw eight more trees down.

“This is the city’s newest community park, right up against the foothills. It is really attractive. This is a sad, sad situation. I can’t comprehend what motivates people to do this,” said Zentz.

Escapist’s crime spree ends in eastern Colorado

A convenience store clerk in eastern Colorado who recognized the tattoo on Jacob Wolsleben’s leg helped lead authorities to the 26-year-old man after he escaped from Tri-County Hospital in Lexington and zigzagged across five states in five days.

Before his escape, Wolsleben was being held in Dawson County, Neb., on several charges out of Buffalo, Dawson and Lincoln counties, including burglary and writing bad checks. He was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical problem and escaped on Saturday.

Wolsleben’s run all came to an end on Wednesday after he stopped for gas at the Ampride in Stratton, Colo.

Store manager Marjo Dietz said she had received a Dawson County Sheriff’s dispatch that described the 6-foot-8, 260-pound Wolsleben and his tattoos, one of them a large ‘W’ with three stars on his right calf.

Wolsleben, who was wearing long pants under the hospital gown when he escaped, was in shorts at the gas station, Dietz said.

When one of her clerks noticed the tattoo on his leg, Dietz said, she knew it was the wanted man.

“If he had long pants on, no one would have noticed,” Dietz said Thursday. “He was nicely dressed. This guy, you wouldn’t have paid attention to normally. He was a nice-looking guy.”

Dietz said she called the Kit Carson County, Colo., sheriff. Deputies spotted Wolsleben driving westbound on Interstate 70 a short time later and a chase began.

According to a Kit Carson County statement, Wolsleben sped away at speeds near 100 mph before crossing the median to avoid stop sticks and turning onto a county road about six miles west of Flaglar, Colo. Officers from Kit County, Lincoln County and the Colorado State Patrol caught up to Wolsleben and arrested him without incident.

(Read on for the story of Wolsleben’s escape and string of car thefts)

Durango charity organizer hit by cannon blast

DURANGO, Colo.—Sheriff’s officials say a bicyclist who organized a charity race was injured by a small cannonball that was shot at him and investigators suspect five teenagers of the crime.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s office say they plan to interview the teenagers with their parents next week about the cannonball that was fired at the bicyclist Sunday during a multiple sclerosis fundraiser in Durango.

Authorities say the cannonball was similar to what is used at high school and college games to celebrate a touchdown. Sheriff’s officials say a gauze-like wadding soaked in an unknown chemical caused an explosion near the legs of 37-year-old Ian Altman. The explosion lodged particulate in his legs and arms and he was hospitalized with a 102.5-degree fever.

Cops seek snitches in last week’s office burglaries

Police are asking for the public’s help in finding suspects in a string of office building burglaries in south Denver.

The burglaries happened on July 21 and July 22 in four office buildings in the 2000, 2100 and 2200 blocks of South Oneida Street, the Denver Police Department said in a media release.

Police said individuals shown in surveillance photos used credit cards, stolen from victims in the office buildings, at a local convenience store.

Thieves entered the office buildings during late night or early morning hours and broke into offices, forcing doors and causing thousands of dollars in damages, police said. They ransacked offices and stole computers, personal items and other goods.

Boulder court sign corrected slightly

Somebody took the initiative to make the sign outside of Boulder’s court… slightly more accurate.  A small, but cute gesture.  Here’s the inane media report:

Despite a police crackdown on graffiti, at least one vandal managed to hide his or her work in plain sight this week — on the front entrance to the Boulder County Justice Center.

Using what appears to have been a set of stencils and white paint, someone added a set of quotation marks around the word “justice” on the facility’s main sign at the corner of Sixth Street and Canyon Boulevard.

According to some passersby, the graffiti appeared sometime late Sunday night. But no one at the justice center, including the attorneys, prosecutors, judges and police officers who work there daily, noticed the markings for days.

“They did a nice job, but it’s not supposed to be there,” said Sara, a Boulder County employee who declined to give her last name for fear of workplace reprisals. “They took some time with it.”

Patty, another county worker who walked past the sign on Wednesday, said she hadn’t noticed the graffiti at first, but she appreciates the attempt at high humor.

“It’s a classic sense of humor,” she said. “There’s no profanity.”

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett was less amused when he saw the quotations for the first time Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m quite proud of the work that happens at this center,” he said. “So to suggest on the official sign that it’s not justice is not appropriate.”

Armed trio rob 1stBank in Denver

Denver Police are still looking for three suspects who robbed a bank Tuesday afternoon.

The three armed suspects robbed a 1stBank on North Chambers Road and Gateway Avenue just after 2 p.m. and fled.

They were last seen running southbound on Fontana Court, said Sonny Jackson, spokesman for Denver Police.

They then left the area in a car driven by a fourth man, according to a release from the Federal Bureau of Investigations Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, who is also investigating the robbery.

Summit County crime spree ends in arrest

Two juveniles in Summit County have been arrested after a string of thefts and vehicle break-ins near Breckenridge since February.

Both of the suspects are 15 years old. More suspects may also be involved in more than 20 thefts in recent months.

The suspects are charged with felony theft and are being held in a juvenile detention facility. The class 4 felony carries a possible prison sentence of from two to six years and fines from $2,000 to $500,000.

One of the suspects is also being charged with criminal attempt first-degree criminal trespass, which carries a possible prison sentence of from one to one-and-one-half years and a maximum fine of $100,000.

The thefts involved stolen vehicles, bicycles and vehicle trespasses to steal cash, credit cards and iPods. Most of the thefts have been near the Silver Shekel, Peak 7, and French Creek neighborhoods.

In each case the vehicles were unlocked.

The case is still under investigation.