Someone stole, then returned, more than 200 copies of this week's edition of the Ouray County Plaindealer. The thief, 41-year-old Paul Choate, later admitted to stealing the papers because of the shocking front page story which reports on alleged rapes at the local police chief's home.
In an email sent to readers on Thursday, Ouray County Plaindealer, Erin McIntyre, notified the public about the theft, writing, "It's pretty clear that someone didn't want the community to read the news this week."
McIntyre continued, "I'll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions on which story they didn't want you to read. Whoever did this took the time to steal hundreds of newspapers around the county, to prevent you from reading the news."
The paper recieved more than $2,000 in tax-deductible donations from the community to reprint the issue. The missing papers were replaced and redistributed to the community.
“Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn’t stop a story,” McIntyre told readers in her email. “This person is not going to shut down the freedom of the press by stealing a few hundred newspapers. Our community won’t stand for it and we won’t, either.”
Titled "Girl: Rapes occurred at chief’s house," the story on the front cover of the Plaindealer's January 18-24 edition details an alleged rape of a teenage girl while she attended a party at the house of the Ouray police chief last May. The alleged rapists are the police chief's stepson and two other individuals.
The teenager claims that during the incident she screamed and fought back, while police chief Jeff Wood and his family somehow remained asleep upstairs.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the city said the case had been raised to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), but that the police department isn't undergoing any personnel investigation. However, three arrests have been made this week in connection to the alleged rape: Gabriel Trujillo, 20, and Ashton Whittington, 18, were both booked into the Montrose County Jail and are currently held on a $60,000 bond. A third suspect, an unnamed juvenile, was arrested in Kansas and will be extradited to Colorado.
According to the paper, hours after the theft was reported a garbage bag full of the missing papers was returned to the Plaindealer office. Choate later admitted and apologized for stealing all the papers, though his connection to the alleged rape case has not been disclosed.
