Current:Home > NewsSmall-town Colorado newspapers stolen after running story about rape charges at police chief’s house-InfoLens
Small-town Colorado newspapers stolen after running story about rape charges at police chief’s house
View Date:2024-12-23 18:33:39
Nearly all the copies of a small-town Colorado newspaper were stolen from newspaper racks on the same day the Ouray County Plaindealer published a story about charges being filed over rapes alleged to have occurred at an underage drinking party at the police chief’s house while the chief was asleep, the owner and publisher said Friday.
Mike Wiggins vowed to get to the bottom of it, posting Thursday on X, formerly Twitter: “If you hoped to silence or intimidate us, you failed miserably. We’ll find out who did this. And another press run is imminent.”
The newspaper posted the story on social media and removed its website paywall so people could read about the felony sexual assault charges filed against three men, including a relative of the police chief, for actions that allegedly occurred at a May 2023 party in Ouray where drugs and alcohol were used, according to court records. The suspects were ages 17, 18 and 19 at the time, and the person who reported the rapes was 17, records said.
By Thursday evening, someone had returned a garbage bag full of newspapers to the Plaindealer, and supporters had donated about $2,000 to the paper, something Wiggins called “extremely heartening and humbling.”
About 250 newspapers filled the racks Friday morning in Ouray County, a mountainous area in southwestern Colorado that is home to about 5,000 people.
“If somebody was going to try to make it so the public couldn’t read this story, we were going to make sure to counteract that,” Wiggins said.
The Ouray County Plaindealer is published on Thursdays and delivered to racks late Wednesday. Subscribers receive the paper in the mail.
The rack price for the weekly newspaper is $1, so someone spent $12 opening racks and removing all the newspapers, Wiggins said. They missed one newspaper rack at a coffee shop, so about 200 papers were stolen. Wiggins was glad that the racks themselves weren’t damaged.
He believed the person who returned the newspapers was the person who took them and that only one person was involved in the theft. Wiggins declined to identify the person, but he did report that information to police. Officers also had surveillance video of some of the thefts, Wiggins said.
Ouray Police Chief Jeff Wood did not return a phone message from The Associated Press on Friday seeking comment.
The newspaper plans to have a story in next Thursday’s edition about the theft of the papers and possibly a column explaining why they took it so seriously and reprinted the paper, Wiggins said.
“It’s strange to be writing about ourselves,” Wiggins said. “We work very hard to make sure we are not the story.”
Mike Wiggins and his wife, Erin McIntyre, have owned and published the paper for nearly five years. The only time they had something similar happen was about three years ago when McIntyre wrote about a local campground that was flouting restrictions on lodging put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Someone taped over the coin slot on the newspaper rack at the campground and covered the plexiglass window with a sign asking them to remove the rack, he said.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- College Football Fix podcast addresses curious CFP rankings and previews Week 12
- Detroit paying $300,000 to man wrongly accused of theft, making changes in use of facial technology
- A San Francisco store is shipping LGBTQ+ books to states where they are banned
- Tom Cruise Steps Out With His and Nicole Kidman’s Son Connor for Rare Outing in London
- NFL overreactions: New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys going nowhere after Week 10
- Some cities facing homelessness crisis applaud Supreme Court decision, while others push back
- Trial judges dismiss North Carolina redistricting lawsuit over right to ‘fair elections’
- Nicole Scherzinger Explains Why Being in the Pussycat Dolls Was “Such a Difficult Time
- Veterans face challenges starting small businesses but there are plenty of resources to help
- Sleeping on public property can be a crime if you're homeless, Supreme Court says
Ranking
- Tuskegee University closes its campus to the public, fires security chief after shooting
- Things to know about how Julian Assange and US prosecutors arrived at a plea deal to end his case
- Argentina, Chile coaches receive suspensions for their next Copa America match. Here’s why
- 'A Family Affair' on Netflix: Breaking down that 'beautiful' supermarket scene
- Gerry Faust, the former head football coach at Notre Dame, has died at 89
- Revamp Your Space with Wayfair's 4th of July Sale: Up to 86% Off Home Organization, Decor, and More
- Nicole Scherzinger Explains Why Being in the Pussycat Dolls Was “Such a Difficult Time
- Queer – and religious: How LGBTQ+ youths are embracing their faith in 2024
Recommendation
-
2 Florida women charged after shooting death of photographer is livestreamed
-
Nelly Korda withdraws from London event after suffering dog bite in Seattle
-
Rachel Lindsay Calls Out Ex Bryan Abasolo for Listing Annual Salary as $16K in Spousal Support Request
-
Sheriff says man kills himself after killing 3 people outside home near Atlanta
-
Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’. What happens next is less clear
-
Gena Rowlands, celebrated actor from A Woman Under the Influence and The Notebook, has Alzheimer's, son says
-
Q&A: The First Presidential Debate Hardly Mentioned Environmental Issues, Despite Stark Differences Between the Candidate’s Records
-
When the next presidential debate of 2024 takes place and who will moderate it