YOUR AD HERE »

Summit County police blotter: Trouble with “Mexican Mafia” prompts jewelry theft

Jack Queen
jqueen@summitdaily.com

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a break-in at a residence on May 24 near Dillon where someone had thrown a rock through a window and stolen roughly $4,000 worth of jewelry.

The reporting party provided the name of a suspect, who she believed was the culprit because he had been kicked out of the residence several weeks prior to the incident and was “hard up” for money.

A deputy later contacted the suspect at his residence. He explained that he had gotten into some “trouble” with members of the “Mexican Mafia” several months ago and they had been threatening his life unless he paid them.



He said he knew breaking in to his old residence and stealing the jewelry was the “wrong thing to do” but he had “no other choice.”

He said he knew breaking in to his old residence and stealing the jewelry was the “wrong thing to do” but he had “no other choice.”

He was arrested and charged with second-degree burglary.



‘Bad trip’ leads to DUI

Shortly before midnight on May 27, a driver called in a report of two men sitting in a parked car on the side of Highway 9 who said they were having “a bad trip on acid.”

As a sheriff’s deputy arrived on scene, he observed a man get out of the driver’s seat of the car, which was still running and had its headlights on. The man said “he had taken a lot of acid and wanted to know what was going on.”

The man was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital, where he admitted to driving while on acid, the colloquial term for the hallucinogenic drug LSD. When asked how much he took, he said “a ton,” and then clarified by saying “2 ½ hits.”

He told the deputy that he had been camping in the area and remembered driving but didn’t know where he was going or why. While talking to the deputy, he “could not stay on topic,” repeatedly saying, “I’m on acid” and asking, “Is this real?”

The man said he was sorry for driving on acid and asked if he had hurt anybody. After begin medically cleared, he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

Shady home office arrangement

While on patrol at around 2:30 a.m. on June 17, a Breckenridge police officer noticed a man sleeping on a bus stop bench. The man told the officer he was OK but was just on his way to pick up some clothes before going home.

The officer asked the man where he lived and he explained that he had been sleeping at his workplace after business hours for the past year and a half. The man said that his boss didn’t know he was sleeping there and that he would probably fire him if he found out.

The officer explained that he couldn’t allow the man to sleep there without the permission of the owner. The man, who said he didn’t have anywhere else to stay, consented to a portable breathalyzer test and was found to be highly intoxicated.

The man was taken to detox without incident and was “extremely cooperative.” He was not charged with a crime.

Shirtless man fed up with stepdad, prefers jail

While on foot patrol at around 2 a.m. on June 11, a police officer in Breckenridge came across a shirtless man in a heated argument with another man.

The shirtless man appeared to be intoxicated and “could not answer simple questions.” The second man, who identified himself as the shirtless man’s stepfather, said his stepson had too much to drink and was upset about a family matter.

While the officer was clearing the shirtless man through dispatch, he began “throwing all of his personal belongings on the ground” and moving toward his stepfather.

He told the police officer, “Please take me to jail. I would rather go to jail than stay with him,” referring to his stepfather.

He was taken to the hospital to be cleared for detox but was highly uncooperative and refused to stop standing up on the hospital bed.

He was taken to the jail and booked as an uncooperative detox.

—Compiled from police reports


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.