A stack of local Colorado newspapers was stolen from a rack Wednesday morning. It was just hours after a shocking story appeared on the front page detailing the alleged gang rape of a teenager in the police chief's home.
The Ouray County Plain Dealer is shocked that three teenagers, including Chief Jeff Wood's son, are accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated girl who lay unconscious and unconscious on the bathroom floor. announced news.
But Erin McIntyre, co-publisher of Plain Deadler and author of the story, said readers who preferred physical paper never had the chance to read the work.
“All the newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were robbed by thieves and all the newspapers were stolen. From what we know so far, this person 1 and appears to have received all the documents on these racks,” McIntyre wrote. Thursday night newsletter.
“It's clear that someone didn't want the community to read this week's news. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to which stories they didn't want you to read,” she continued.
McIntyre said a suspect was identified Friday. The person's identity will remain secret until he is arraigned in court, but the co-publisher teased that he has no connection to Woods or the three alleged rapists.
Investigators say the 17-year-old girl was raped multiple times during a late-night party with Woods' son-in-law, Nate Dieffenderfer, and two other men at Woods' home in May, The Plain Dealer reported. I made a statement to the member.
Gabriel Trujillo, 20, Ashton Whittington, 18, and a third man were arrested this week on suspicion of sexual assault, according to reports. Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement did not release Dieffenfelfer's name because he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.
The victim claimed that she passed out after drinking heavily in her bedroom, but when she woke up, he put Diefenderfur on top of her naked and raped her.
According to court records, the police chief's son stopped her when she tried to fight back and scream as other suspects, one of them laughing, looked on.
Chief Woods was reportedly asleep at home during the attack.
Dieffenderfer and Trujillo then dragged her into the bathroom, where they took turns abusing her, strangling her and other assaults so brutal that they left her with a chipped tooth. She told police she remembered washing off the blood in the shower.
“I remember trying to be really loud for someone to hear me and screaming because it was so painful,” she told investigators.
Although Mr Whittington did not attend, he is said to have not intervened.
The girl woke up on the bathroom floor around 4:30 a.m., unable to find any clothes to wear, and picked up a sweatshirt from a pile of laundry, which belonged to Wood.
According to the Plain Dealer, evidence collected during the sexual assault examination was consistent with testimony from Diefenfenderfer and Trujillo, who told investigators the girl was “ill.” He later admitted to having had a sexual relationship with her, calling her a “liar'' and “crazy.''
Woods' DNA was also detected, but not in sufficient quantities to indicate foul play.
The secretary did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
On Thursday night, a person returned a garbage bag filled with stolen newspapers to the Plain Dealer office and confessed to stealing the newspapers, McIntyre said.
Police asked The Plain Dealer not to provide any further details at this time, but the newspaper teased that the suspect is not related to the defendants or anyone in law enforcement.
However, the newspaper stressed that the theft only encouraged the team to pursue their work more diligently.
“The people who did this don't understand that stealing a newspaper doesn't stop the reporting,” McIntyre wrote in a newsletter hours before the suspect came forward.
“This person is not going to steal hundreds of newspapers and shut down press freedom. Our community won't stand for that, and we won't stand for that,” she added.
“If you intended to threaten us, you only strengthened our resolve.”
