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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Second man still sought in Delta kidnap attempt
DELTA — Delta police are still seeking a man who wore a green ski mask when he tried to kidnap an 11-year-old girl in Delta Monday afternoon.
Grand Junction police arrested Rhys Tudor, 61, who was driving a white Ford Focus that he and the masked allegedly fled in. The car’s Colorado license plate contains the letters FOL or FDL. The car, which has a gray interior with a large rip in the rear seat, has not been located. Anyone with information on the masked man or the car should call Delta Police at 874-7676.
The arrest affidavit for Tudor revealed more details about the attempted abduction. Contrary to reports from the Delta Police Department, the girl did not fight off the men in her back yard, but after she was dragged into the car.
In the affidavit, the girl was quoted as saying that when she was playing in her back yard on Howard Avenue, a dirty white car pulled into the alley and one of the men got out. He grabbed her by her neck, held his hand over her mouth and dragged her into the car, telling to hold still. He put her in the back of the car, which was when the girl fought the man and ran to the Delta County Courthouse.
The man the police are still seeking was described as having “bad dark skin,” wearing a short-sleeved green shirt with a skull and snake on the front. He was wearing royal blue baggy pants and black boots and had on leather half-finger gloves, according the arrest affidavit. The girl also stated he was missing his front tooth left of center and had a silver ring on his left hand. She told police she heard Tudor call him “Jerry.”
Delta police also reported the suspect possibly had dark blond hair, hazel eyes and spoke in a deep voice with a Southern accent.
Police spokesman Bill Sowell said he received information that the men had been in the Grand Junction area since after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
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Regular unleaded approaches $3.35 a gallon
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline hit a new high of $3.346 in Grand Junction today, according to a survey released by AAA Colorado.
A week earlier, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded stood at $3.265.
At this time last year, the average price for regular unleaded gasoline was $2.795, according to AAA Colorado.
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Sex abuse of children ‘unmistakable,’ DA says
A Grand Junction man engaged in a “unmistakable” pattern of sexual abuse against several children who attended his wife’s home day-care center, a prosecutor said this morning.
A defense attorney, however, questioned why there were no witnesses to any of the alleged assaults and why the children’s parents waited for years to go to police with their allegations.
Lawyers gave opening statements today in the trial of 59-year-old Edward Morfin, who is accused of molesting children between 1990 and 2003 at his Oxbow Road home, where his wife ran a day-care center. Morfin faces 33 counts of sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child by a position of trust and sexual assault on a child as a pattern of abuse.
Prosecutors said a total of seven victims will testify in the trial, including two who will testify for the purpose of proving Morfin’s intent. Prosecutors said there are actually a total of 10 people who claim Morfin assaulted them as children between 1960 and 2003. However, three of those cases will not be prosecuted because those alleged assaults fall outside the state’s statute of limitations.
Morfin appeared in custody wearing a blue shirt and occasionally shook his head from side to side during testimony and prosecutors’ opening remarks.
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Proposed Redlands subdivision moves ahead
A plan to build a housing subdivision in a traditionally rural area of the Redlands has taken a step forward over objections from neighbors.
The Grand Junction Planning Commission voted 5-2 Tuesday night to recommend that the density be increased for 13 acres of land at 2076 Ferree Drive by changing the future land-use designation from allowing one house to be built on every two to five acres of land to allowing two to four houses per acre.
Planning Commissioners Roland Cole, Paul Dibble, Tom Lowrey, William Putnam and Reginald Wall voted in favor of changing the land-use designation. Planning commissioners Bill Pitts and Ken Sublett voted against it.
The City Council will make the final decision about the growth plan amendment at a future meeting.
Kenton Page, who owns the 13 acres on Ferree, as well as four acres at 2074 Broadway, plans to combine the parcels and build roughly 50 homes.
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