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.

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.

  • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
    36·
    10 months ago

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

    • derphurr@lemmy.world
      17·
      10 months ago

      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@lemmy.zipEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        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.