Police blotter boulderweekly.com/policeblotter
Unexpected growth
Boulder County authorities discovered two marijuana grow operations this week in the mountains west of Lyons, and the two sites contained about 7,500 pot plants.
The first operation was found on Aug. 30, as police searched an isolated area southeast of Raymond for a man seen fleeing from the grow operation. The man was not located.
The second site was found the next day about a mile southwest of the first site.
According to a report from the Boulder County Sheriff ’s Office, the grow was “a wellorganized operation with an elaborate irrigation system.” Plants ranged from 3 ½ to 5 ½ feet tall and had an estimated street value of $1 million.
There was nothing found at the scene indicating the people were armed with weapons.
The marijuana grow operation was located on land belonging to the U.S. Forest Service, Boulder County Open Space and a private land owner.
Authorities called in two helicopters from the Colorado National Guard to airlift the plants to an area where they could be loaded onto dump trucks and hauled away to be destroyed.
Burglary bungled
Police were dispatched to the 1700 block of Sunset Boulevard on Aug. 29 on a report of a burglary in progress.
The victim said she was in her bedroom when she heard an alarm indicating someone was opening a door to her residence. She left the room to investigate and observed a white male “walking around.” She ran back into the bedroom to call police and looked outside, where she noticed that the interior dome light of her vehicle was on. Nothing was taken or damaged. Officers were unable to locate the suspect.
Have knife, will fight
On Aug. 26 officers responded to the area of Lincoln and Pennsylvania Streets on the report of a felony menacing.
The victim said he was in his house with some friends when a man entered. The victim asked the man to leave, and a verbal altercation began. The suspect then pulled a switchblade knife on the victim, causing a minor laceration to his chest. The victim’s injury did not require medical attention. The 20-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, menacing and underage possession of alcohol.
Getting booze without ID According to the Boulder Police Department, on Aug. 27 a 20-year-old male was arrested after he admitted throwing a large rock through the glasspaned door of Sun Deli Groceries, at 2299 Pearl St., and taking a bottle of gin.
According to the police report, he was charged with second-degree burglary and underage possession of alcohol.
More charges for duo
Back on March 27, Boulder police arrested two men suspected of a burglary at an unoccupied home in the Four Mile Creek subdivision in North Boulder.
According to police reports, the men arrested were Nicholas Gene Dorrance, 47, and James Gurule, 45, both from Thornton.
In the weeks following the arrests, police continued to investigate and were able to link the two men to 57 additional burglaries in the city of Boulder, as well as several others in Denver metropolitan police jurisdictions.
On Aug. 25, arrest warrants were issued for both Dorrance and Gurule. Each is expected to be charged with 57 counts of burglary, two counts of attempted burglary, one count of theft and one count of criminal trespass in the Boulder crimes.
Boulder police have photos of unclaimed recovered property on their website at www.boulderpolice.com.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
