Sheriff's Blotter

A black bear pulled bags of trash off a flatbed trailer parked behind a Dolores business and ate the food waste inside, and the trailer’s owner was issued a summons under the town’s ordinance, according to a Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office report. Sheriff Steve Nowlin wrote that he came across the torn-open bags while on patrol in Dolores on the morning of Nov. 5.

The following items are drawn from eight incident reports released by the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 10. Most cover Nov. 5 through Nov. 7; three deal with earlier incidents, going back to Oct. 20. A ninth report in the release, on an Oct. 20 arrest near Dolores, appeared in last week’s blotter. An arrest, summons or citation is an accusation, not a conviction, and everyone named is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The Cortez Current will update a blotter item when it learns that charges were dismissed or a case was resolved; anyone named can send documentation to CortezCurrent@pm.me.

Tuesday, Oct. 20

6:12 p.m., Highway 160 and Road F. Dispatchers at the Cortez Communication Center received text messages to 911 from a woman who wrote that she would kill them and that she was in Cortez, and who also wrote that she would kill people at the park and at the library, according to the report. Two dispatchers were on duty. Dispatch placed the phone on Highway 160 south of Road F, heading south. The deputy wrote that an arrest warrant had been written and sent to the district attorney for review; the report does not say whether one was issued.

Sunday, Oct. 25

8:15 p.m., 28200 block of Highway 160. A deputy sent to a report of threats heard screaming from a home and found two people holding a woman down on a couch. A woman who lives there told the deputy that Sequana Francis had harassed her through the night, threatened to kill her and pushed her several times, hurting her lower back, and that the two of them restrained Francis to keep her from becoming more violent, according to the report. Francis said the two had attacked her; the deputy wrote that a video Francis offered did not show that. Francis was arrested and, after a medical clearance at Southwest Memorial Hospital, booked into the Montezuma County Detention Center. The report refers to a summons but does not list the charges.

Wednesday, Oct. 28

5:41 a.m., 400 block of Bauer Avenue, Mancos. Deputies responded to a 911 report of domestic violence at a home. A man told a deputy that a woman had slapped and punched him in the head during an argument; he said he was not hurt and declined medical attention, according to the report. A second woman at the home said she saw the punch. The deputy turned the investigation over to the Mancos marshal when he arrived, and the report does not say whether anyone was arrested.

Thursday, Nov. 5

7:15 a.m., 507 Central Ave., Dolores (the Bike Hostel). Sheriff Steve Nowlin, on patrol in Dolores, found that a black bear had taken white trash bags from a flatbed trailer parked behind the business and eaten food waste from them, according to his report. He photographed the scene. Later that morning the trailer’s owner, Jacob M. Carloni, told him the bags had not been put in the dumpster as they should have been, the report says, and Nowlin issued him a summons for violating the town ordinance.

7:46 a.m., Road G and Highway 160/491. A deputy responded to a crash in which a Jeep Wrangler had minor damage to its rear driver’s side. The Jeep’s driver said he was hit while heading east on Highway 160 and believed the sun was the cause, according to the report. The Colorado State Patrol investigated the crash.

Friday, Nov. 6

7:54 a.m., 14100 block of Road 25. A man called to report that a car registered to him had gone off the road at about 3 a.m.; he said the driver had swerved to avoid a deer and that a tow company told him law enforcement had to clear the car before it could be towed. Deputies found the Dodge Caliber off the roadway with fresh scratches along its side and signs it had hit a fence and damaged a culvert, with no one there. A deputy wrote that he found a small liquor bottle under the car and another bottle and a crushed beer can nearby, and that the account of swerving for a deer did not appear consistent with what he saw. He passed the information to the Colorado State Patrol; a trooper tagged the car for removal within 48 hours and went to speak with the driver. The report does not say whether anyone was cited.

11:25 a.m., 13300 block of Road 30.5, near Mancos. A man reported that someone got into his American Airlines frequent-flyer account and redeemed 57,000 miles, worth about $570, for a gift card on April 17, which he discovered only a few days before reporting it. He told the deputy he believes he entered his login on a fake version of the airline’s sign-in page, and that he has since changed his password. The airline’s fraud department had asked for a police report. There is no suspect.

Saturday, Nov. 7

3:12 a.m., 730 E. Driscoll St. (Montezuma County Detention Center). David Paul Lyons turned himself in on an active warrant in case 26M38 and was served with it at the detention center.

The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office released these reports to the Cortez Current in response to a public records request.