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Category: Crime
Monday, August 3, 2009
On Friday, as the victims of Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio’s insider-trading exploits planned perhaps meager weekends, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued a ruling that could lower his prison sentence and the amount of fines he must pay in the wake of his 2007 conviction (via The Wall Street Journal).
The rulings do not clarify how long Nacchio, who in April finally began a six-year sentence at Schuylkill minimum security prison in Pennsylvania, should spend in prison or how much he should have paid, but because of a miscalculation in the amount Nacchio got away with, it appears he was punished too harshly.
Reuters also notes that the sentence could be reduced, quoting the ruling: “Mr. Nacchio’s increased prison sentence should be linked to the gain actually resulting from the offense, not to gain attributable to legitimate price appreciation and the underlying inherent value of the Qwest shares.” And that has prompted a review of the case by the U.S. Department of Justice. Nacchio’s penalties could also be reduced as a result of the ruling, reports the Denver Business Journal.
“Mr. Nacchio’s gain should be calculated in a manner that is more narrowly focused on producing a figure that reflects, in at least approximate terms, the proceeds related to his criminally culpable conduct,” according to the legal opinion by Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes.
Posted at 9:14 am by Michael de Yoanna
Business, Crime, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Friday, July 31, 2009
University of Northern Colorado theater professor Vance Fulkerson appeared in a Weld County courtroom yesterday, looking stoic and focused as he faced charges of sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact, and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana (via Northern Colorado 5 news).
Fulkerson’s attorney says his client has been facing claims that “are simply not true,” writes The Denver Post, which notes, however, that it remains unclear whether Fulkerson, 63, will choose to confront his accusers in a trial.
In yesterday’s bond hearing, a judge concluded Fulkerson could remain free on $5,000 bond until September 17, when the disposition of the case will be discussed in court. Fulkerson got into trouble for allegedly hiding a camera in his bathroom to film young student visitors. According to the arrest affidavit, police found a camera and child pornography in Fulkerson’s home.
One of Fulkerson’s lawyers, Alexander Garlin, says,
”There are a lot of people coming forward and we’re really not in a position to say too much about it other than we’re sure some of it is untrue” (via 9News).
Posted at 11:15 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Education, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Thursday, July 30, 2009
It’s been less than a month since allegations first surfaced that surgical technician Kristen Diane Parker stole drugs at hospitals and in the process infected patients with hepatitis C, a liver-damaging condition. And now the lawsuits will begin to emerge.
Ads are flooding television stations and newspapers in Denver and Colorado Springs, as lawyers attempt to reach thousands of potentially inflicted patients who were treated at Rose Medical Center and Audubon Surgery Center.
Parker, who was recently indicted on charges for swapping out painkillers for dirty needles filled with saline, worked at both institutions.
An ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette from Houston attorney Michael Moore reads, “You may have been exposed to the Potentially Deadly Virus Hepatitis C!” Frank D. “The Strong Arm” Azar and his Aurora law firm are running television ads. Azar has already filed one suit against Rose on behalf of a woman, according to Law Week Colorado.
Posted at 3:45 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama, People, Rights :: Permalink :: Comments
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Mountain Standard Time, a bluegrass band from Nederland, saw their road trip screech to a halt outside Fort Morgan on Sunday after a tire on their trailer burst.
When the band returned three-and-a-half hours later with a new tire, they discovered the trailer had been broken into by thieves who made away with $15,000 to $20,000 in guitars, drums, microphones, amplifiers, electronic gadgets, a saxophone, and even the band’s revenue-generating CDs, T-shirts, and stickers, writes Boulder’s Daily Camera.
“Somebody literally yanked a huge hole in the side of the trailer,” band member Philip Dyer explains, adding that the crooks left nothing.
Now the band is scrambling to borrow instruments for a gig tonight at Denver’s Golden Road with Greensky Bluegrass. At least Mountain Standard Time can take comfort in knowing they’re not the only victims of theft. Earlier this month, Cyril Neville and Tribe 13, in Colorado for a series of gigs, lost a bass, keyboard, and several personal items to thieves, according to JamBase.
Posted at 12:05 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama :: Permalink :: Comments
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Actor Kelsey Grammer wasn’t able to make it to Colorado yesterday after missing a connecting flight, so he sent an e-mail to Parole Board officials that described Freddy Glenn, the man who killed Grammer’s sister during a crime spree in 1975, as a “butcher.”
Glenn, who was a teenager at the time of the crime, was denied parole yesterday for his part in the rape and murder of Karen Elisa Grammer, then an 18-year-old waitress at a Red Lobster, writes the Colorado Springs Gazette.
“I apologize,” Glenn, whose hair is now graying, told Parole Board members, before downplaying the incident, prompting member Debbie Allen to ask, “Mr. Glenn, are you stating that you didn’t take a major role in all of these crimes?” Glenn said no, and admitted he was part of the murder. (more…)
Posted at 12:00 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Monday, July 27, 2009
First there was Kristen Diane Parker, a former Rose Medical Center surgical technician who stole painkillers in a scam that caused a still-growing number of patients to be infected with hepatitis C.
Then came nurse Marguerite Irene Furgerson at Hospice and Palliative Care of Northern Colorado, accused of forging prescriptions to get drugs for her own use.
Now add former St. Anthony Central Hospital nurse Jillian Fischer, who allegedly stole drugs and had previously been fired from Swedish Medical Center, according to 9News in a report that raises questions about background checks for medical workers. (more…)
Posted at 12:45 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Thursday, July 23, 2009
There appeared to be a viable political escape hatch for Colorado’s senators when it came time to vote on a bill that would have made it easier for people to carry concealed weapons from state to state.
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was shot at Columbine High School, asked both of the state’s Democratic senators to do what they could to defeat the bill (via The Associated Press).
But Mark Udall and Michael Bennet (pictured) didn’t take the political cover. As their party overwhelming voted to quash the measure, Udall and Bennet were left standing out sorely alongside Republicans.
The bill called for states to recognize concealed weapons permits issued in other states, something that many opponents, including Mayor John Hickenlooper, say would undermine local authority. (more…)
Posted at 9:56 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, Politics, Rights :: Permalink :: Comments
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The latest federal gun-law proposal has been branded a new “lowest common denominator” for gun ownership by many police organizations, mayors, and crime-victims groups, reports The Washington Post.
But the relatively weak GOP has recently managed to prod Senate Dems, including Colorado’s Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, to back looser rules on firearms in national parks, part of the unrelated credit-card bill signed by President Barack Obama.
The latest measure, by South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune, would allow people to carry concealed guns across state lines if they are permitted to do so. Two top targets are Udall and Bennet, according to the Post, which writes that Udall told reporters earlier this week, “I would imagine there would be some concern back home,” but that he would also take a second look at Colorado’s concealed gun law. (more…)
Posted at 3:00 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, People, Politics, Rights :: Permalink :: Comments
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Colorado’s senators are urging the Army to include Fort Carson in a pilot program to reduce alcohol abuse among soldiers in the wake of a study last week that found a possible association between a string of alleged homicides at the post and soldiers’ combat experiences.
The pilot program at several other Army posts would remove a requirement that soldiers seeking help for alcohol problems notify their commanders in order to remove any stigma, according to The Washington Post.
The report released last week found, in part, that soldiers seeking substance abuse and mental health treatment have faced problems getting help (via Salon).
“I’m concerned that more and more service members suffering from psychological wounds are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol,” says Colorado Senator Mark Udall (pictured), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Meanwhile, Fort Carson’s commander, Maj. Gen. Graham, is leaving the post. Graham ordered the recent report, citing concern about murders in the Colorado Springs area. Maj. Gen. David Perkins will become the post’s new commander, according to a press release, which does not state where Graham will go.
Posted at 1:00 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Military, Panorama, Politics :: Permalink :: Comments (4)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Ron Wiley, the warden of the federal Supermax prison in Florence, will retire in October, leaving the job of guarding the likes of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols—and perhaps even Guantanamo Bay detainees—to someone else.
That’s according to The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of an e-mail Wiley sent to staffers at the prison, located about 90 miles south of Denver, saying he wants to spend time with his family and pursue teaching opportunities.
The prison is a magnet for controversy, including a recent one in which an inmate was prevented from obtaining bestsellers penned by President Barack Obama because they were “potentially detrimental to national security” (via Britain’s Guardian). (more…)
Posted at 12:30 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, People, Rights :: Permalink :: Comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Kristen Diane Parker, the surgical technician who allegedly stole needles filled with painkiller for ones filled with saline solution and potentially infected with hepatitis C, has just gone “viral.”
In addition to working at Rose Medical Center in Denver and a surgery center in Colorado Springs, Parker also worked recently at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York, according to 7News, triggering testing there in as many as 2,800 patients.
WPIX 11 in New York reports that Parker worked in the hospital’s operating rooms from October of 2007 to February of 2008 and that the patients who had surgery in those months should be tested for the liver-damaging hepatitis C, which Parker has.
Meanwhile, Colorado health officials are worked with Rose to change investigative procedures to fix a breach of public trust, according to The Denver Post. Other changes include new medication dispensing machines that are accessed by fingerprint scan.
Posted at 3:45 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Since 2005, a handful of Fort Carson soldiers who have faced brutal combat in Iraq have returned home and been linked to a murder. A report released yesterday in Colorado Springs by Fort Carson’s commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker, and the Army’s chief of personnel, Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle starts to answer why. It shows that the soldiers’ lives were broken by combat stress, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse (via the Colorado Springs Gazette).
From the study: “Survey data from this investigation suggest a possible association between increasing levels of combat exposure and risk for negative behavioral outcomes,” and “combat intensity/exposure…may have increased the risk for violent behaviors.” Many of the findings mirror those that I reported for Salon with national correspondent Mark Benjamin in the Coming Home series, which identified a pattern of preventable homicides and suicides at Fort Carson among soldiers who served in Iraq with combat stress and failed to receive proper medical treatment.
Many of the 14 soldiers that the report says were allegedly involved in slayings witnessed incidents described in the report as War Crimes (via Salon). Five either heard of or witnessed the “murdering/killing” of non-combatants; three, “detainee abuse;” and, two, “fabricating evidence to justify attacks or criminal acts.”
U.S. Senator Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, issued a statement yesterday in response to the study (via The Associated Press): “This is a matter of life and death, for our service members and civilians. We must do everything in our power to ensure that the military is providing all necessary treatment and support to protect our service members, their families and our communities.”
Posted at 8:51 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Military, Panorama :: Permalink :: Comments (1)
Monday, July 13, 2009
The growing list of medical workers who have made the news in recent weeks—and some incidents that haven’t, until now—raise questions about the quality of care provided to patients at hospitals. It’s the fallout resulting from Kristen Diane Parker, the surgical technician facing decades in prison for unleashing a scary outbreak of hepatitis C after stealing syringes with painkillers and replacing them with dirty ones full of saline solution.
The Denver Post reports that such thefts are, unfortunately, not rare. In the past three-and-a-half years at 22 Colorado hospitals, medical workers have been caught stealing drugs 100 times.
In May 2008, Denver Health Medical Center fired a worker for allegedly stealing more than 75 tablets of Percocet and other drugs, including five vials of Fentanyl–the same drug Parker is accused of stealing. Boulder Community Hospital recently experienced a narcotics theft, as well, which threatened nearly 300 patients. Now the hospital says it has safeguarded the drug-dispensing system that a nurse exploited for his drug habit, writes the Camera.
Painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet are the most popular and abused drugs in the U.S., and an advisory panel to the Federal Drug Administration recently voted to ban them (via The Associated Press). Meanwhile, New York Magazine ponders life without Vicodin, offering a timeline of its history.
Posted at 9:45 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama :: Permalink :: Comments
Friday, July 10, 2009
Kristen Diane Parker, the self-professed needle-loving surgical tech accused of stealing syringes filled with the painkiller Fentanyl and replacing them with dirty needles and saline solution, told police she tried to hide her drug habit.
She switched needles 15 to 20 times in five months at Rose Medical Center in Denver and at Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, according to a videotaped interview with a Denver police detective (via The Gazette).
“I didn’t want to make it obvious to everybody that I was using,” she told detective Dale Wallis, as seen in a video played in a court hearing yesterday. “I didn’t want to lose my job.” (more…)
Posted at 2:45 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments (1)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Earlier this week, Kristen Diane Parker, a surgical technician at Rose Medical Center and another facility in Colorado Springs, found herself in the middle of a potentially massive hepatitis C outbreak after stealing liquid Fentanyl, a painkiller, and replacing what she took with used syringes filled with saline solution.
Now another health worker, nurse Marguerite Irene Furgerson, is causing a stir, this time at Hospice and Palliative Care of Northern Colorado. Furgerson is accused of using the names of several patients to get Vicodin or Hydrocodone with forged prescriptions over the last eight months, according to 7News.
Furgerson, 29, of Milliken, admitted to police that she is “heavily addicted” to the painkillers. The Greeley Tribune reports that Furgerson slipped through the cracks meant to protect patients. She previously worked at North Colorado Medical Center, where she was reported for stealing a patient’s pills; the hospice reportedly did not receive notice before it hired her because of a paperwork issue.
Meanwhile, fear has gripped many of Rose’s patients: 5,700 may have been exposed to hepatitis C, a liver-harming condition that Parker has, writes The Denver Post. State health officials have confirmed 10 cases of hepatitis C at Rose, and hundreds of other patients at the Audubon Surgery Center in the Springs could be infected, reports The Associated Press.
Posted at 2:30 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Health and Environment, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Vance Fulkerson, a theater professor at the University of Northern Colorado who was charged last week for hiding a video camera in a bathroom used by his students, has a long history of improper sexual behavior at a school that seemed to ignore complaints. That’s according to past and current students, such as Christopher Johnson, who says he had sex with Fulkerson in 1991 and filed a sexual harassment complaint that was ignored.
“I’ve been haunted by that monster for 18 years,” Johnson tells The Denver Post, adding that he is “furious at him” because UNC “protected him.”
The 63-year-old Fulkerson has been charged with a felony count of sexual exploitation of a child and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual contact following a complaint to police. Six of Fulkerson’s students e-mailed 9News to say they were glad to hear about the charges, claiming that Fulkerson “walked under a cloud of suspicion that could be seen by all.”
Posted at 8:46 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Education, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
“I’m soo overdue for a good concert. Umm..what else… I have a crazy fascination with needles.. I just like the way they feel!”
Those silly words from Kristen Diane Parker’s MySpace page now seem frightening. Parker, a surgical technician with hepatitis C, was on the verge of tears yesterday in court as she faced federal drug charges alleging that she stole liquid Fentanyl, a painkiller, by replacing used syringes filled with saline solution, writes The Denver Post.
Parker worked at Rose Medical Center in Denver and the Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, meaning that thousands of patients were potentially exposed. As News First 5 in Colorado Springs notes, one patient at Audubon Surgery Center now worries she might have hepatitis C. Parker could face more than 30 years in prison. She admitted, according to court papers, to stealing the drug and leaving behind the used needles filled, reports 9News.
Nine patients at Rose have been diagnosed with the virus that can cause permanent liver damage, and state health officials are investigating to see if those cases can be linked to Parker.
Posted at 1:45 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, People :: Permalink :: Comments (1)
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