Colorado newspaper copies stolen from stands on same day a rape report is released

Almost all the copies of a small-town Colorado newspaper were stolen from racks. The theft took place on the same day the paper was releasing a story about reported sexual assault at the local police chief’s house during a late-night underage party in May 2023.

The Ouray County Plaindealer said the newspapers on all but one of their newspaper racks across Ridgway, Colorado were stolen, on Thursday.

"It's pretty clear that someone didn't want the community to read the news this week," the paper wrote.

Owner and publisher Mike Wiggins promised to get to the bottom of the theft.

"Someone didn't like this edition of @ocplaindealer. (Guess which article.) So they stole nearly every newspaper out of our racks in Ouray County. If you hoped to silence or intimidate us, you failed miserably. We'll find out who did this. And another press run is imminent," Wiggins said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

On Friday, the Ouray County Sheriff's Office said a man had been cited for the theft of the newspapers.

The Plaindealer reported that Paul Choate, 41, admitted to police that he stole more than 200 copies of the paper. Choate returned the newspapers to the publisher on Thursday evening, with an apology, the paper reported.

"The suspect is not a member or relative of local law enforcement and not associated with the defendants in the recent reported sexual assault," the sheriff's office said.

Sexual assault allegation against police chief's stepson and two others

The front-page report that was featured in the stolen newspaper reported on allegations made by a 17-year-old that alleged she was raped multiple times during a party with Chief Wood's stepson and two other suspects at his home.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is investigating the allegations. In a press release, CBI said three individuals were arrested in connection to the sexual assault allegations, one minor who was not named, and Gabriel Trujillo, 20, and Ashton Whittington, 18.

Since the case involves a minor, CBI said the arrest warrants have been sealed. However, despite being a minor at the time of the incident, the Plaindealer said they chose to name the chief's stepson "because of the severity of the allegations." The incident took place on May 14, 2023, and the stepson would have turned 18 a few days later, the Plaindealer reported.

According to the report, the victim told investigators that she screamed and fought back as people slept upstairs.

The Plaindealer reported that the 17-year-old told investigators the party involved drugs, and drinking. She said she had gone in and out of consciousness and was raped at least three times by two different people in a bedroom and bathroom.

Chief Wood did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on the theft and the allegations.