Gov. Jared Polis’ decision to appoint Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser as special prosecutor to review the death last year of Elijah McClain after an encounter with Aurora police and paramedics is extraordinary. In fact, it’s so unusual that experts can’t remember a similar instance in which a district attorney’s decision-making received a second look […]
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
FBI, federal prosecutors have been reviewing Elijah McClain’s death
The FBI and federal prosecutors have been reviewing Elijah McClain’s death for a potential civil rights investigation since last year. The review is ongoing, federal authorities say, and the city of Aurora has been cooperating. “The standard practice of the Department of Justice is to not discuss the existence or progress of ongoing investigations. However, […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Montrose funeral home owner who allegedly sold hundreds of bodies without families’ consent is federally indicted
The owner of a Montrose funeral home suspected of selling the body parts of scores of people whose families wanted them cremated has been federally indicted on nine counts, including accusations of mail fraud and the transportation of hazardous materials. An indictment filed last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver alleges 43-year-old Megan […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: It’s time for our federal and state lawmakers to get serious about fentanyl
As federal prosecutors, we in the U.S. Attorney’s office battle daily with transnational drug dealers who seek to import their poison to Colorado. Working with our partners at the DEA, the FBI, Homeland Security and local law enforcement, we all too often seize large quantities of heroin, meth and cocaine destined for Colorado’s streets. […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Suspected gunman in 2015 Planned Parenthood shooting federally indicted after four years of stalled state case
A federal grand jury has indicted Robert Lewis Dear Jr., suspected of killing three people and wounding nine others at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015. Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the 68-count indictment on Monday, which comes after four years of stalled proceedings in the state case against him. Dear could face […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Grand Junction weapons company to pay $1 million for selling Army subpar grenade launchers
A Colorado weapons manufacturer has agreed to a $1 million settlement for allegedly shipping subpar grenade launchers to the U.S. Army, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Capco LLC supplied the Army with M320 grenade launchers between July 2016 and March 2018 even though company officials knew the launchers’ barrels did not meet specifications, U.S. […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Man charged in Pueblo synagogue bomb plot pleads not guilty in federal court
By Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press An alleged white supremacist accused of planning to bomb a Colorado synagogue pleaded not guilty to a hate crime and other charges on Monday as members of the congregation he is suspected of targeting watched from the back of the courtroom. Federal public defender Mary Butterton entered not guilty […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Pueblo man arrested by federal agents wanted to blow up historic synagogue, court documents say
A 27-year-old Pueblo man with a history of voicing hatred toward Jews on social media was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of attempting to blow up a historic synagogue in the southern Colorado city — the second oldest in the state. An arrest warrant was issued for Richard Holzer on Saturday in a document […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Ex-Colorado cop, whose 90-day jail sentence for unlawful sexual contact drew outrage, charged with federal civil rights violation
Federal prosecutors have charged a former Westminster police officer, whose 90-day jail sentence for unlawful sexual contact drew outrage, with a civil rights offense. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado on Monday announced that Curtis Lee Arganbright, 42, faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of depriving the woman of her civil […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Already under investigation for her body-parts business, a Montrose woman has her state insurance license revoked
Megan Hess, the former Montrose funeral home owner under federal investigation for allegedly selling the body parts of people whose families wanted them cremated, had her state license as an insurance agent revoked this summer. But the reason had nothing to do with the federal investigation, according to disciplinary documents. Instead, state regulators accused Hess […]