HOMELESS MAN AFRAID OF BEARS STOLE CAR AS SHELTER
ASPEN» A Delta County man who said he stole a car this fall in downtown Aspen because he was afraid of bears and had nowhere to stay will spend the next 18 months in a program that provides an alternative to prison.
Davey Naranjo, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated motor vehicle theft in the case and will serve his time at Garfield County Community Corrections, a rules-intensive program in Rifle that offers therapy, work and life-skills training and job placement for convicted felons.
Naranjo admitted stealing the vehicle, which was parked behind New York Pizza with the keys inside, in October. He was caught almost immediately.
Greeley police officers justified in fatal shooting of man with realisticlooking BB gun, DA says.
GREELEY» Four Greeley police officers who unloaded 20 bullets into a man they struggled to arrest in October while he was high on meth were justified in their actions, according to the Weld County district attorney’s office.
After an investigation, District Attorney Michael Rourke determined the officers were justified in shooting and killing Danny Sanchez, 40. Sanchez rammed an unmarked police car and led officers on a short chase, during which he pointed a gun at them twice.
He then ran from police while appearing to reach for a gun in his waistband early Oct. 28.
Ultimately, authorities learned Sanchez was pointing a BB gun fashioned to look like a handgun and he had only a cellphone in his waistband.
Texas girls found; suspect in custody.
Two girls missing since Sunday were found safe in Colorado, and a possible abduction suspect was in custody Wednesday night.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert in Colorado on Wednesday after a Texas man suspected of abducting two girls was spotted in southern Colorado.
A prior alert had been issued by Round Rock, Texas, police after officers found 44-year-old Tonya Bates dead at her home Sunday and her two daughters — “Lulu” Bandera-Magret, 7, and “Lily” Griffith, 14 — missing.
The suspect in custody was Terry Miles, 44.
Police suspected the girls were not willingly traveling with Miles, whom they identified as Bates’ roommate. Banks said Bates’ death was suspicious, and Miles was a person of interest. Media reports say Miles has an extensive criminal record in Louisiana and California. Police received tips suggesting the three were in southern Colorado. Video surveillance showed Miles at a business in Trinidad on Saturday, Banks said.
Car fire inside Eisenhower Tunnel causes closures.
A car fire inside Eisenhower Tunnel closed Interstate 70 in both directions for about an hour early Wednesday afternoon, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacia Sellers said. The small vehicle fire was reported in the westbound lanes of I-70 about 12:30 p.m., according to CDOT. The fire team stationed within the tunnel began tending to the fire, but it ultimately was extinguished by the Clear Creek Fire Department.