Newspapers stolen on day it publishes story with allegations of teen's rape at Colorado police chief's home

A newspaper that published a story about an alleged rape at the home of a Colorado police chief said that week's paper was stolen out of racks, keeping people from purchasing the edition. 

The Ouray County Plaindealer reported on Wednesday that a teenage girl had allegedly been assaulted multiple times during a late-night party with the Ouray County police chief's stepson and two others in May. The 17-year-old reported the alleged assaults to investigators, and said that she screamed and fought back while Police Chief Jeff Wood and his family slept upstairs. Wood declined to comment for the Plaindealer's story. 

According to the Plaindealer, the initial case report was taken by an investigator from the Ouray County Sheriff's Office before the case was referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. In a statement on Thursday, Ouray officials said they had been monitoring the case since May because Wood's residence was involved in the alleged assault. The Ouray Police Department was not involved in the investigation, the statement said, and "no personnel investigations are being conducted in the Ouray Police Department" as a result of the allegations. 

According to the Plaindealer and a news release from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Wood's stepson and two other men were arrested on charges of felony sexual assault in December. 

The story outlining the alleged assault, charges and ongoing case was meant to be on the front page of the Plaindealer this week, but physical copies sold in newspaper racks throughout Ouray County were stolen, the paper said in a statement above its online edition attributed to co-publisher Erin McIntyre. McIntyre was the author of the piece about the alleged assault. 

"I'm sorry that most of you locals who like to get your papers from the racks were not able to put your quarters in and receive your weekly news today," the statement said. "All of our newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were hit by a thief who stole all the newspapers. From what we know so far, it seems this person put in four quarters and took all the papers at these racks. It's pretty clear that someone didn't want the community to read the news this week." 

The newspaper asked anyone with information about the thefts to contact the Montrose County Sheriff's Office. Montrose County borders Ouray County. 

"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's statement continued. "Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn't stop a story. We're not going to stop doing our job, which is to shine light on important issues in our community and keep you informed. 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." 

The paper said that it is working with the Montrose Daily Press to have another run of papers published, and said it would update readers again when those newspapers are available for distribution. 

"If you meant to intimidate us, you just strengthened our resolve," the statement added. 

CBS News reached out to Wood, but has not received a response. 

In:
• Colorado
• Assault

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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