Category: Crime

CMU, Crime, Ethics, Fake Religiosity, Harassment, Racism, Religion, Religious hypocrisy, Safety

Einstein Bagels is rounding up change to support a group that is facing multiple sexual assault and EEOC claims

by Anne Landman • May 18, 2022 • 4 Comments

Einstein Bagels asks people to round up their purchase to the next dollar to donate to a Christian missionary youth group that has been charged with widespread sexual assault, misconduct and harassment.

Einstein Bagels in Grand Junction is asking customers to round up their change to support an evangelical Christian missionary youth group, Young Life, that is facing a slew of sexual misconduct lawsuits by former club participants across the country and at least four Equal Employment Opportunity Complaints for racial discrimination, improper termination and other sordid allegations.

The group, Young Life, came under federal investigation after students, members and volunteers across the country reported they had experienced unwanted sexual advances and solicitations, racially discriminatory comments and treatment, and verbal harassment consisting of sexual innuendoes, comments, jokes, inappropriate texts and social media messages, grooming, inappropriate physical touching, sexual assault, racially discriminatory treatment and retaliation against volunteers who reported such events.

People forced out of Young Life for reporting sexual misconduct

A sign in Einstein’s window urges people to round up their change to support Young Life

After Becca Wong, a Young Life student leader in Michigan, reported an incident of forced oral sex on another member to the organization’s leadership, the leadership forced her out of the organization “in direct retaliation” for reporting the assault, Wong says. In an interview to Michigan Daily, Wong said,

“It’s a very harmful experience but when you’re in (Young Life), you really drink the Kool Aid and you really believe everything they’re doing… Leaving Young Life was a very eye-opening experience, and you can’t really see the problems in Young Life until you’re out of it.”

Laureana Arellano brought a lawsuit after she was racially and sexually harassed at a Young Life summer camp in Colorado in 2019. Arellano said in her legal complaint that a coworker assaulted her by “shoving his hand down her apron and groping her genitalia.” Court paperwork says that when she reported it, a manager told her it was “God’s plan.” Arellano reached a settlement agreement with Young Life, the terms of which are undisclosed.

Brie Boatman, a former staff member who left YoungLife in 2018, said

“Women are not safe in this ministry if Young Life is going to listen to our stories and do nothing about it.”

CMU and many local businesses continue to support Young Life despite allegations, lawsuits & complaints about misconduct

A host of prominent Grand Junction businesses support Young Life by participating in a discount card program the organization uses to raise money to send youth to Young Life camps. The organization also flourishes on college campuses, including at Colorado Mesa University, which welcomes the group in spite of its fraught reputation.

Young Life is a $500 million, Colorado Springs-based organization that works to lure young people into Christianity. It starts recruiting kids as young as middle school, is present in all 50 states and in over 100 countries around the world.

If you have experienced sexual assault, harassment or other misconduct while in Young Life, you can report it to Business Insider, which is compiling reports on such incidents, at rpremack@protonmail.com, or contact the Denver-based law firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, that is handling many cases against Young Life already, at 303-578-4400 or fill in the contact form at their website.

This photo from Colorado Mesa University’s website shows the university promoting Young Life, a nationwide Christian missionary youth group based in Colorado Springs that has been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and racial discrimination

Grand Junction businesses that support Young Life despite sexual assault allegations

A host of Grand Junction businesses endorse Young Life, which has been charged with sexual misconduct against members and volunteers, doing nothing about it, and even working to cover it up

Conspiracy theories, Crazy Republicans, Crime, Dangerous Republicans, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Republican lies, Republicans violating laws, Tina Peters, Weird western slope stuff

New info in 18-page indictment against Peters and Knisely

by Anne Landman • March 17, 2022 • 29 Comments

Mug shots of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (L) and Chief Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisely (R): Partners in crime. (Photo: YouTube)

If you haven’t had time yet to read the entire 18-page indictment of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (pdf) filed March 8 that led to her arrest on seven felonies and three misdemeanors, probably the newest and most interesting additional information in it is about the infamous “Gerald Wood,” who we all thought was the unauthorized person Peters smuggled into the secure room where the election equipment is kept.

Turns out he wasn’t.

Tina Peters filed improperly notarized quit claim deed to obtain ex-husband’s house

by Anne Landman • March 10, 2022 • 5 Comments

Tina Peters’ mugshot for her latest arrest on 3/9/2022, charged with 8 felonies and 3 misdemeanors related to election tampering

An investigation by the State of Colorado (pdf) has revealed that the quit claim deed filed by Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters last year for property that belonged to her ex-husband was not notarized in accordance with Colorado law.

The case involves a home on Orchard Mesa purchased by Tina’s ex-husband, Thomas Peters, that Tina Peters obtained by filing the questionable quit claim deed.

On December 23, 2021, Thomas M. Peters, filed a lawsuit (pdf) against his ex-wife, Tina Peters, alleging she breached her fiduciary duty and engaged in “theft by deception” to illegally seize a home he had purchased for himself with his own funds after they divorced in October, 2021.

Rabid right wing extremist Cindy Ficklin announces she is running for State Representative for HD-55

by Anne Landman • October 19, 2021 • 29 Comments

Update Monday, 10/25/21: “Stand for the Constitution” has pulled the video of Cindy Ficklin declaring her run for the Colorado HD-55 Rep. seat. But and article in the Daily Sentinel also transcribed what Ms. Ficklin said in the video, including her statement that she decided to run for the seat because the school board didn’t pick her to replace Paul Pitton on school board. The Sentinel article is here.

Starting at minute 8:00 in a “Facebook Live” video posted yesterday by “Stand for the Constitution,” local rabid far right wing extremist and realtor Cindy Ficklin announced she is running for State Representative from House District 55, the seat currently held by Janice Rich, who plans on running for state Senate.

Ficklin tells viewers she filed for the seat because the District 51 School Board did not accept her as a finalist to be appointed to the Board.

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in her own words

by Anne Landman • August 13, 2021 • 5 Comments

Instead of being in Grand Junction dealing with the breach of security in the Elections Office that’s going to cost County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to remedy, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters fled the state to appear as a featured speaker at the My Pillow Guy’s “Cyber Symposium” in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at which Mike Lindell, CEO of the My Pillow Company, promised to finally reveal long-sought-after proof that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election. By all accounts, Lindell’s symposium imploded spectacularly. Lindell also heard during the conference that a judge allowed a $1 billion defamation lawsuit (pdf) filed against him last February by the Dominion Corporation, which manufactures the voting machines used in Peters’ office, would be allowed to go forward.

Peters was lauded as a hero at the event, and was introduced to the crowd as “an amazing patriot who is doing exactly what she should be doing and protecting and defending the vote.”

CO Secretary of State Griswold: “All evidence shows” Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters assisted in a security breach; S.O.S. decertifies Mesa County’s voting equipment

by Anne Landman • August 12, 2021 • 8 Comments

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (Photo: State of Colorado)

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold gave a press conference today (video) in which she revealed that last May 25th, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters permitted an unauthorized non-employee of the Elections Department to participate in a highly sensitive annual security inspection of Mesa County’s voting equipment called a Trusted Build. The name of the non-employee entered into the log that day was “Gerald Wood,” and Griswold revealed that Woods’ name was entered into the log by the Mesa County Clerk herself. Griswold noted that the non-employee “swiped in, but did not swipe out.”

“This was a breach,” Griswold said. “He was not an employee and he was not background checked. The Clerk misled the Secretary of State’s office about this information.”

Griswold said,

“To be very clear, Mesa County Clerk and Recorder allowed a security breach and by all evidence at this point, assisted it.”

Car singled out for vandalism in Clifton Dollar Tree parking lot

by Anne Landman • March 31, 2021 • 0 Comments

A friend drove a car belonging to her now legally-blind housemate to Dollar Tree in Clifton, bringing her 90+ year old mother, who uses a walker, for a short shopping trip. It was late morning on Wednesday, March 31, and they parked in a handicapped spot in front of the store. They were in the store less than an hour, and when they came out, they found someone had vandalized their car with black spray paint.

No other cars in the parking lot were targeted.

W. slope Republicans promote domestic extremist lies

by Anne Landman • January 31, 2021 • 1 Comment

Post from Janet Rowland’s campaign Facebook page, August 14, 2020

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a National Terrorism Advisory (pdf) 1/27, warning of a heightened risk of violence by domestic extremist groups across the country who have been emboldened by the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th.

The Advisory says,

“…some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”

The Advisory says domestic violence extremists (DVEs) are

“motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and … opposition to immigration…”

The bulletin further states,

• Threats of violence against critical infrastructure…increased in 2020 with violent extremists citing misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 for their actions.”

Local elected officials promote this extremist ideology

Boebert reimburses herself over $30k for mileage in 2020 — enough to circumnavigate the globe 1.5 times

by Anne Landman • December 26, 2020 • 36 Comments

Colorado Pols examined District 3 Congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert’s campaign expenditures and discovered Ms. Boebert reimbursed herself a total of $30,177 in mileage expense from her campaign donations in 2020. She reimbursed herself about $22,000 of that in one lump on 11/11/2020.

For the sake of comparison, Colorado Pols compared Boebert’s mileage reimbursements with those of outgoing CD-3 Congressman Scott Tipton’s claimed mileage expenses over the entire time he served in Congress, and found Tipton reimbursed himself a total of $12,255 from his campaign — over the entire last TEN YEARS he held the office.

Republican CD-3 candidate Lauren Boebert’s husband arrested in ’04 for indecent exposure to a minor

by Anne Landman • October 30, 2020 • 155 Comments

Lauren Boebert (formerly Lauren Roberts) and Jayson Boebert

A Garfield County Sheriff’s Office arrest report (pdf) has surfaced showing Lauren Boebert’s husband, Jayson, was arrested on January 28, 2004 for exposing his penis to young women at the Rifle Fireside Lanes Bowling Alley.

One of the victims was a minor who was 16 years old.

Lauren married Jayson in 2005, one and a half years after the indecent exposure incident.

March planned to draw attention to police murder of Fruita man, Gage Lorentz

by Anne Landman • October 8, 2020 • 3 Comments

Gage Lorentz was murdered las March 21 by a Carlsbad Caverns National Park Ranger who shot him after pulling him over for going too fast on a dirt road. Lorentz was unarmed and unintoxicated at the time. No charges have been brought in the case.

A peaceful march will be held Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. at Stoker Stadium to demand justice for Gage Lorentz, a 26 year old Fruita man who was shot and killed March 21 by a Carlsbad Caverns National Park National Park Ranger after the ranger pulled him over for speeding on a dirt road.

Lorentz was unarmed and had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time he was pulled over.

Lorentz was driving home from Pecos, Texas, where he worked on drilling rigs, to see his family in Fruita when he took a short detour to meet a friend in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. While in the Park, Ranger Robert Mitchell pulled Lorentz over for speeding on a dirt road near the Rattlesnake Springs area of the park, a type of traffic stop that typically results in a warning or a ticket.

Body cam video shows Lorentz, clearly nervous, complying with the officer’s orders to get out of his truck and keep his hands visible, but he refused the officer’s demand to turn around and put his back to the officer. Mitchell started a scuffle with Lorentz and ended up shooting and killing Lorentz. No one has been charged in Lorentz’s murder.

Republican congressional candidate Lauren Boebert may have committed a felony by arming a 17 year old employee

by Anne Landman • July 22, 2020 • 0 Comments

The Colorado Times Recorder is reporting that Republican Congressional candidate for District 3, Lauren Boebert, likely committed a criminal offense in 2015 when she required an underage employee to carry a firearm in her diner. Boebert and her husband own Shooters Grill, an eatery in Rifle, Colorado whose attention-getting business gimmick is requiring all employees to open-carry handguns.

Boebert’s alleged firearm offense was documented in a January, 2015 YouTube video about the diner which included a clip in which the young employee, Brooke Shackleford, admits she is just 17 years old and open carries a firearm inside Boebert’s restaurant while she works.

Under Colorado Revised Statutes 18-12-108.7 it is illegal to allow a juvenile to possess a handgun, and whoever does so commits a Class 4 felony, punishable by fines ranging from $2,000 to $500,000 and 2 to 6 years in prison.

Other Class 4 felonies include crimes of sexual assault, manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and identity theft.

Consumer advocacy, Crime, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Mesa County Republican Party, Republican incompetence, Republicans violating laws, Secrecy, Tina Peters

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters stonewalling list of voters whose ballots were lost

by Anne Landman • July 19, 2020 • 1 Comment

Mesa County citizens are trying to recall Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters for inept operation of her office, including forgetting 574 ballots in a collection box from the November, 2019 general election.

Embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (R) has not complied with several Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests seeking a copy of a spreadsheet her office created containing the names of the 574+ disenfranchised voters whose ballots her office failed count in the November, 2019 general election.

The ballots were left in a collection box after the election and were not retrieved or counted. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called the oversight a “serious dereliction of duty.”

Clerk Peters ordered the creation of the list.

Several former Clerk’s office employees report that Ms. Peters asked Sandra Brown, another Clerk’s Office employee, to create a spreadsheet of the names of all the voters whose ballots weren’t counted so Ms. Peters could send them each a written apology.

Internal emails from the County Clerk’s office support claims that the list in fact exists. In the emails, Peters asks other employees not to distract Ms. Brown from the task of creating the list, so she could finish it quickly.

National Park ranger shoots, kills unarmed young Fruita man in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

by Anne Landman • July 3, 2020 • 4 Comments

Gage Lorentz, 26, was killed by National Park Ranger Robert Mitchell during a traffic stop for speeding on a dirt road in Carlsbad Caverns National Park March 21. Gage was unarmed and had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time he was fatally shot. The family is calling for the arrest and prosecution of the park ranger who murdered him.

Police murdering unarmed citizens in cold blood doesn’t just happen to people from other places.

A National Park Ranger murdered a young Fruita man last March in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, as he was headed home to Fruita from Texas.

The murder was covered locally in March, but has taken on renewed significance after George Floyd’s brutal murder in Minneapolis shined a spotlight on the unchecked police brutality going on all across the nation.

Gage Lorentz was unarmed and had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he was pulled over for going too fast on a dirt road.

Columbine Liquors in Palisade temporarily closes; former owner said to have “obtained the business illegally”

by Anne Landman • April 27, 2020 • 5 Comments

Columbine Liquors at 210 W. Third in Palisade was recently seized from former owner Bill Carlson, and as of April 27, 2020, the store is under new ownership by Thomas Lewis Goerke.

A liquor store employee answered a call to the store and when asked about the store’s closure, said Bill Carlson “got the company seized from him” because he had “obtained the business illegally.” The employee didn’t know how Carlson had obtained the business. The store will reopen after the new owner obtains a liquor license. An application for the new license has been submitted.

Bill Carlson (from PeachTownNews.com)

Bill Carlson won a seat on Palisade’s town Board of Trustees in the April 7, 2020 election. Palisade Town Administrator Janet Hawkinson said Carlson so far has not resigned from the seat.