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CBS Colorado

Larimer County DA Blasts PR Bond for Fugitive Facing Child Sex Crime Charges
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Larimer County DA Blasts PR Bond for Fugitive Facing Child Sex Crime Charges

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado A Northern Colorado district attorney is accusing a magistrate of putting local children and others at risk after she released a fugitive on a personal recognizance bond. The fugitive was wanted for creating and possessing child sexual abuse material out of Wyoming. John Smallbone of Converse County, Wyoming, was originally arrested on 72 counts related to creating and possessing child sexual abuse material. According to prosecutors, he posted a $250,000 bond in Wyoming but failed to appear for his next court hearing, forfeiting the bond and becoming a fugitive. John Smallbone Larimer County After authorities located Smallbone in Larimer County, he was arrested on the Wyoming warrant while awaiting extradition.  "There is ...
Colorado Judge Approves $3000 Bond for Woman Detained by ICE at DIA
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Colorado Judge Approves $3000 Bond for Woman Detained by ICE at DIA

By Jennifer McRae | CBS Colorado According to the attorneys for Chantal Rojas, the woman who was detained by ICE at Denver International Airport, she could be released on bond on Wednesday after a judge granted her a $3,000 bond on Tuesday.  The Department of Homeland Security said Rojas is originally from Ecuador and overstayed her visa in the U.S.  She was taken into ICE custody on July 20 and placed in the detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, according to DHS. Last week's interaction between Morales Rojas and DHS was captured on camera and quickly spread online.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
Avon Opens Public Debate After Vandals Target Police Camera Network
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Avon Opens Public Debate After Vandals Target Police Camera Network

By Spencer Wilson | CBS Colorado A discussion over privacy, policing and public safety technology is taking center stage in Avon after three police cameras were vandalized earlier this month. That includes two speed enforcement cameras and one Flock license plate reader. The acts of vandalism happened during the early morning hours of July 18, when someone cut down or damaged camera poles and stole two of the devices. It resulted in more than $76,000 in damage and replacement costs, according to documents prepared for Tuesday night's Avon Town Council meeting. Police said they are actively investigating the felony vandalism and theft. The vandalism also ignited a much larger conversation online after the Avon Police Department's Facebook post about the damage...
Colorado Independents Put Two-Party Politics to the Test in 2026
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Independents Put Two-Party Politics to the Test in 2026

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado It appears Colorado will have a three-way race for governor. Former Republican Congressman Greg Lopez, who is running for governor as an independent, says the Secretary of State's Office has certified him for the ballot. Last Friday, Doctor Shimon Blau also qualified as an independent in the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Denver. While independent candidates are underdogs in most races, CBS Colorado analysts Mike Dino, a Democrat, and Dick Wadhams, a Republican, say don't count them out. For years, Coloradans have been moving away from the two major parties and registering as unaffiliated. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
Colorado Election Officials Allege Victor Marx Campaign Repeatedly Exceeded Donation Limits
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Election Officials Allege Victor Marx Campaign Repeatedly Exceeded Donation Limits

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado The Colorado Secretary of State's Office says the Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx's campaign received nearly 200 illegal campaign contributions during the primary election. Campaign finance law caps individual donations at $1,450 to reduce the outsized influence of wealthy donors and prevent quid pro quo corruption. Colorado Secretary of State The Election Division received complaints alleging the Marx Campaign had repeatedly violated the law. It launched an investigation and found the campaign accepted 197 illegal contributions totaling more than $78,000 over the limit. It says he also accepted another $1,000 in illegal cash donations. Darcy Schoening filed the complaints against the campaign. She says Marx m...
Ex Police and Fire Chiefs Accuse Federal Heights Leadership of Retaliation Following Firings
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Ex Police and Fire Chiefs Accuse Federal Heights Leadership of Retaliation Following Firings

By Gabriela Vidal | CBS Colorado It's been four months since first responders and Federal Heights residents crowded council chambers, angered after now former police chief Robert Grado and fire chief Marc Mahoney were fired abruptly. "It's been very emotionally draining, and there's not a minute of the day that this isn't on my mind," Grado told CBS Colorado. "We were great employees … I personally had gone a year without one resignation in my department." The termination came after years of what they say was a breakdown in communication between their departments and the city, as well as city manager Jacqueline Halburnt's leadership. "We were doing the best things for (our officers), and to try to get good change, to get progressive change (and) we were fir...
Months of Power Outages Leave Littleton Neighborhood Looking for Solutions
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Months of Power Outages Leave Littleton Neighborhood Looking for Solutions

By: Kelly Werthmann | CBS Colorado It's been a tough week in Colorado if you struggle with the heat, especially if you don't have access to any sort of cooling measures. Residents say that's what happened in the Columbine Hills neighborhood in Littleton when the power went out for hours at a time. And they say this has been happening since last summer. "We feel like prisoners in our own neighborhood," said resident Brandon Darnell. Darnell s ays he's pretty sick of losing power at his Littleton home. He says it's never a brief outage. "It's a while. It's like, I think at minimum usually four hours," said Darnell. He says it has cost him money. "I've had to throw a lot of money worth of meat away," said Darnell. And it's affected his job. ...
Boebert Says Government Must Show Probable Cause and Secure Warrant Before Tracking Citizens
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Boebert Says Government Must Show Probable Cause and Secure Warrant Before Tracking Citizens

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado From Flock cameras to facial recognition, mass surveillance is advancing; at the same time, privacy protections are eroding. The government can access, or buy access to, vast troves of data on Americans' emails, texts, bank records, even cloud data and justify it in the name of national security. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado's 4th Congressional District, knows that firsthand. The Coloradan had just taken the oath of office in 2021 when Jan. 6 happened, and she became the subject of an FBI investigation dubbed Operation Rampart 12. "And this was all because I brought my family to the Capitol and had a tour," she said. Democrats accused her and at least three other Republ...
Federal Crackdown Targets Alleged TdA ATM Hacking Network That Hit Colorado Banks
CBS Colorado, Approved, National

Federal Crackdown Targets Alleged TdA ATM Hacking Network That Hit Colorado Banks

By Logan Smith | CBS Colorado The U.S. Department of Justice says a violent Venezuelan gang which has a history of illegal activity in Colorado is responsible for stealing more than $6 million from American banks across the country.  Ninety-eight people with ties to Tren de Aragua have been named in indictments that accuse them of installing viruses into ATMs. The virus allows the machines to dispense sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.  ATMs in 26 states -- including Colorado, Wyoming, and, in particular, Nebraska -- were physically broken into over the course of two years (January 2024 to February 2026), according to court documents. Most of the incidents detailed in the indictments occurred in Nebraska. One Nebraska credit ...