Tag Archives: Colorado Springs

Bank robbed by duo wearing George Bush masks

21 Apr

COLORADO SPRINGS — Two men were said to be wearing George W. Bush Halloween masks — or maybe masks of his father — when they robbed a bank at gunpoint in north Colorado Springs on Wednesday morning, the Gazette reports.

The robbery occurred about 11:20 a.m., when the pair, armed with handguns, grabbed cash from at least one teller at American National Bank, 1095 W. Garden of the Gods Road, police told the newspaper.

Colorado Springs cop attacked trying to break up fight

19 Mar

An early-morning scuffle between police and four people led to a head injury for one police officer and a man going to jail.

The fight happened just after 1 a.m. today after police were called to the El Vecino Apartments at 1802 Monterey Road in southeast Colorado Springs. Several people were arguing and fighting when police arrived. When officers tried to break it up, two people turned their aggression toward them.

According to a police report, Anitwain Ellis, 24, who later was taken to the El Paso County jail, “violently pushed” a female officer. The officer fell hard, the report said, injuring her knee and head.

After police used pepper spray to control Ellis and another person, two more people joined the fight. Officers eventually hit them with a Taser.

Ellis was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of assault on a police officer while the other three people were cited on suspicion of obstruction and let go.

The injured officer was taken to a local hospital to be treated and was later released.

‘Pro’ bank robbers netted $64K in Colorado Springs

12 Mar

Two men are accused of committing eight bank robberies in Colorado Springs and Fountain in which they took turns accosting tellers at gunpoint, Colorado Springs police said Friday.

Police described Daryl Keener and Gary Cyprian as “career criminals” who netted more than $64,000 in a scheme meant to make police believe that only one man was responsible for the heists.

“If there were such a thing as a pro bank robber in the area, they were it,” detective Sgt. Dale Fox said at a news conference.

Keener, 30, and Cyprian, 28, met in prison, worked for the same employer and spent “nearly every waking hour together,” during which they worked out a uniform approach to robbing banks, Fox said.

One man entered the bank with a handgun while the other waited in a getaway car.

“They would walk in and tell the customers to get on the floor, and they were very comfortable doing it,” Fox said.

The men — who wore hooded sweatshirts and masks — used similar language to ask for large bills and warn clerks against placing security features such as dye packs or GPS beacons in the cash.

Police say Keener brought the expertise about bank security and police investigative tactics: He was sentenced in a bank robbery in 2003 and served six years.

The robberies started Dec. 28 and ended March 8, just a few days after police got lucky by finding a business with surveillance footage of a sport-utility vehicle fleeing a March 3 robbery at Key Bank, 1115 Elkton Drive, Fox said.

An employee of the business later recognized the same vehicle driving down the street more than two miles away.

This time, however, the worker had a view of the rear license plate that couldn’t be seen on the surveillance footage. The plate was traced to a Dodge Durango belonging to Cyprian and his wife, police said.

Police turned up four weapons while searching a garage used by Keener, including three pistols and a semiautomatic variant of a Fabrique Nationale carbine rifle generally associated with military special forces groups.

The pair are in El Paso County jail on $100,000 bail each.

Naked Springs woman harasses pastor and attacks cop

1 Feb

A 34-year-old woman was Tased and arrested Saturday afternoon after she allegedly harassed a church pastor, took off her clothes and attacked a police officer.

According to the Colorado Springs police, Megan Cawiezell apparently went to the Evangelical Christian Academy and was pounding on the car of a man who identified himself as the pastor at the church. The report said she tried to take his cell phone, then took off all her clothes and began hitting other cars in the parking lot.

When police arrived Cawiezell had left and was later found coming out of a house nearby. She approached a police officer and started hitting him in the chest. That’s when he hit her with his Taser and arrested her.

Jewelry snatched from open-house showings

1 Feb

A man and woman in Colorado Springs are accused of taking the open house experience too far, police said.

Over the past two weeks, on two occasions, the same couple was seen at real estate open house showings in which jewelry ended up missing, police said. The pair drove a dark green Jeep Grand Cherokee to and from the homes and police obtained a license plate number to track down the suspects.

Elizabeth Craig, 42, and Sean Spears, 25, were arrested Sunday after police traced a license plate to the pair, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department blotter.

Criminal fleeing murder and armed-robbery charges hurls AC unit at cops

9 Aug

 

A man wanted for murder in Mexico was caught in Colorado Springs while hauling an air conditioning unit, which he threw at officers in an attempt to escape, authorities said.

Miguel Lopez-Fuentes, who was also wanted on an armed-robbery warrant out of Castle Rock, was taken into custody at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office media release.

A task force made up of officers from various departments located Lopez-Fuentes in the 1900 block of South Chelton Road, at the Summit Creek Apartments, carrying a window air conditioning unit, “which he subsequently threw at deputies and took off running,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies were able to chase Lopez-Fuentes down and after a “struggle” arrested him.

Lopez-Fuentes is being held at the Douglas County Jail without bond. He faces additional possible charges of resisting arrest, criminal mischief, assault on a peace officer, and criminal attempt to disarm a peace officer.

Lopez-Fuentes is suspected of being in the United States illegally, the sheriff’s office said, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) notified the sheriff’s office that he’s wanted on “an international warrant for murder out of Mexico.”

Anti-charity criminals rob convenience store register, cigarettes and donation jar

9 Aug

A trio of robbers included a change jar earmarked to help the Muscular Dystrophy Association in their haul when they knocked off a Colorado Springs convenience store early this morning.

The men entered the store on the 900 block of S. Union Blvd. at about 4:17 a.m. One of them brandished a black semi-automatic handgun and demanded the clerk to open the cash register, according to the Colorado Springs Police Blotter.

The suspects also stole cigarettes along with the donation jar. Police did not disclose how much cash, if any, the robbers got out of the cash register.

The clerk was not injured during the robbery and authorities are looking for three suspects.

Armed robber knocks off Springs burger joint

9 Aug

August 6: A robber knocked off a burger joint Thursday night in Colorado Springs.

At about 10 p.m. an armed robber, brandishing a hand gun, held up a Burger King at 2720 S. Academy Blvd., according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was wearing a black bandanna, gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

The suspect fled on foot and remains at large. No one was hurt in the robbery.

Dozens of cops to quell CoSprings bar riot

31 Jul

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.

Armed robbery of Colorado Springs credit union

9 Jul

July 1: Two armed women robbed a Colorado Springs credit union Wednesday and police later arrested two suspects at a home in the city.

Two armed robbers fled the credit union on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Officers identified two suspects in the case and went to 7114 Grand Prairie Drive where the pair was arrested.

Investigators executed a search warrant at the home and found “evidence linking the suspects to the robbery,” police said.

The women have been charged with aggravated robbery.

Police have identified a third, at-large, suspect in the case as [name omitted]. [omitted] should be considered armed and dangerous, police said.