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A Colorado town's newspapers were stolen after a story about rape charges at the police chief's house

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.

Shanedino ,

This seems like it was a display. Turned from a local scandal into a national one.

Waraugh ,

Need more people like this couple.

Meanwhile, the husband-and-wife of the Plaindealer have vowed to continue covering the case.

On X, Wiggins said those who are interested in supporting the local newspaper’s journalism can donate to a Report for America campaign that helps fund its operations.

Founded in 1877, the Plaindealer claims to be the second oldest continuously publishing newspaper on Colorado’s western slope.

The weekly newspaper covers local news in rugged Ouray County, population 4,874, just north of the ski slopes of Telluride.

Wiggins and McIntyre, both former reporters for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, purchased the Plaindealer in 2019.

In addition to running the business, the married duo also write many of the articles that appear in the newspaper.

‘We invested in the Plaindealer because we believe every community, even small ones, deserves good journalism,’ the couple said in a 2021 interview.

‘During a time when the headlines are full of stories about newspapers purchased by hedge funds and stripped for profits, newsrooms gutted and presses ceasing to operate, we’ve invested in a weekly publication and doubled down on journalism.’

exothermic ,

Well, I feel safe knowing that the police are as wise as a child trying to hide their report card from their parents. Our public safety is in good hands!

saintshenanigans ,

You should hear about the old lady who ran a local newspaper that published something the police chief didn’t like so he had a raid done on the business and stole all of the computers, I think it was

ShepherdPie ,

They also raided her home and she wound up dying the following day.

saintshenanigans ,

Jesus fucking christ, I missed that part.

Classy America lol

force ,

i can’t believe cops would do this /s

sandwichfiend ,
@sandwichfiend@c0tt0n.world avatar

👮 NOTHIN TO SEE HERE

pope ,
@pope@c0tt0n.world avatar

Rapist cops? I don't know. TV tells me all cops are my friends and superheroes who scowl at bad guys

millions ,
@millions@universeodon.com avatar

@MicroWave streisand effect save me

derphurr ,

So the victim woke up, couldn’t find her clothes and left with police chiefs sweatshirt in mid May. Goes to hospital and they call Sheriff obviously, but he can’t investigate because he hired the police chief and was former chief and his investigator also had worked for the police chief. So obviously they have to involve CBI (state investigator)

May gang rape… Then “CBI agents interviewed suspects in July”… Then… “July 20, agents used a search warrant to seize evidence from the police chief’s house”… To “were all arrested on warrants for suspected felony sexual assault in December. All have posted bail and been released from jail”

Oh and the police chief knew for month about the investigation. CBI took two months to even question suspects or collect evidence… Another five months to charge anyone.

They left freaking bite marks on the girl.

The DNA tests on samples collected during the hospital sexual assault exam matched Trujillo – in a vaginal sample – and Dieffenderffer – from a bite mark.

Got_Bent ,

They stole print newspapers to hide a story? Were the perpetrators spotted wearing onions on their belts and chanting 23 skidoo?

derphurr ,

No they found the guy who stole the newspapers

admitted he took the newspapers because of the front page story

Plaindealer is not disclosing Choate’s relationship to the sexual assault case.

The theft was not connected in any way to the three defendants in the case, their families or the Ouray Police Department.

I’m not a Sherlock, but if you read those two together, sounds like the victim’s (who was never named) relative (father?) stole the newspapers?

Otherwise they wouldn’t have the sentence about not disclosing

Cethin ,

There’s other reasons they may not disclose it. If they’re a minor they probably wouldn’t, for example. The minor in this case was only disclosed because the severity of the crime. They could also just not want to disclose it because they just don’t want to or just haven’t gotten to it yet.

newthrowaway20 ,

It was the style at the time!

LillyPip ,

By Thursday evening, someone had returned a garbage bag full of newspapers to the Plaindealer

That’s really weird. Why bother returning them? That doesn’t fix things, because the nature of news means they’re not just going to refill the newsstands with day old papers, they’re selling the next edition. Leaving thousands of papers on their doorstep just gives them a new problem.

The thief isn’t just a coward, but also an idiot.

athos77 ,

It's a weekly paper, so it's on sale for an entire week.

Drunemeton ,
@Drunemeton@lemmy.world avatar

Nothing dodgy about that.

anarchy79 ,
@anarchy79@lemmy.world avatar

Huh I thought that thing where some guy drives around town buying up all the newspapers wasn’t real…

OminousOrange ,
@OminousOrange@lemmy.ca avatar

The moment I read ‘Mike Wiggins’ I was really hoping that was the police chief.

Jiggle_Physics ,

Stright up read it as Wiggum and had to do a double take.

r00ty Admin ,
r00ty avatar

So, you print the story on the front page the next day and print double the copies. And keep going.

Make them work for it.

kbotc ,

It’s Ouray. Tiny tiny town.

The real issue is there’s a “major” festival there right now so it could be embarrassing on an international scale for the tiny town.

ourayicepark.com/ouray-ice-festival

derphurr ,

You probably “should” be embarrassed your police chief allows his step son to gang rape a girl in his house and no one is in jail.

kbotc ,

It’s not my town, I just know of the ice climbing festival.

phoenixz ,

Let’s Barbara Streisand the fuck out of this!

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