A former Cherry Creek School District teacher was arrested Monday on suspicion of child sex assault after a former student came forward, police said.
Robert Combs, 56, was arrested on investigation of five counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and three misdemeanor counts of abusing public trust as an educator, according to Arapahoe County court records.
Combs was a CTE Engineering and Technology Teacher at Grandview High School, 20500 E. Arapahoe Road, between 2002 and late 2025, according to a letter sent to parents and families by the Cherry Creek School District.
The school district placed Combs on administrative leave in October 2025, when Grandview Principal Lisa Roberts was first made aware of the sexual assault allegations by the Aurora Police Department, police wrote in his arrest affidavit. Combs was officially “separated” from the school district on Nov. 13, according to the letter sent to parents.
“The safety and security of our students and staff is our highest priority,” school district officials wrote in the letter. “We appreciate your partnership in these critical efforts. We are committed to keeping you informed about all aspects of your child’s education.”
Aurora officers responded to Grandview High School on Oct. 30, after a former student reached out to Roberts to apologize for lying to her in 2022 and said they were considering reporting Combs, according to the affidavit.
The student previously denied having an inappropriate relationship with Combs to Roberts in 2022 after a security guard and other teachers came forward with suspicions about the nature of the two’s relationship, the affidavit stated. At that time, the student said Combs was “like a father.”
Roberts encouraged the student to report Combs and also contacted the Aurora Police Department in October to report the incident on her own, according to the affidavit.
The unidentified victim first met Combs in August 2021 when the student joined a high school club the man advised, the Technology Student Association, according to Combs’ arrest affidavit.
Other teachers at Grandview High School also recommended that the student reach out to Combs for assistance with getting into a military academy, police wrote in the affidavit. Combs helped the student with interview preparation, essay writing and physical training.
In February 2022, Grandview students and staff attended the association’s state conference in Denver, according to the affidavit. Combs allegedly encouraged the then-underage student to come back to his hotel room, where they kissed and he “expressed romantic feelings” for them.
The victim told Aurora Police they “felt shocked and unsure how to respond,” according to the affidavit.
Combs’ interactions with the student after the conference “became more frequent and increasingly inappropriate,” police wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The student would meet Combs after school to work on applications, and those meetings often turned intimate, the student told police. Combs also sent the student inappropriate photos and text messages.
Combs and the student had sex in classrooms, offices and closets at the high school almost every day between March 2022 and May 2022, according to the arrest affidavit. They would also drive to empty parking lots and have sex in cars.
The student told police that it felt like they “owed” Combs for his help, the affidavit stated.
Combs and the student’s relationship ended in December 2022, according to the affidavit. The student blocked his number and “ceased all contact” with Combs in February 2023, but didn’t come forward about the relationship until October 2025.
Police advised Roberts of the specific sexual assault allegations made toward Combs late that month, at which point Combs was suspended and escorted out of the school, according to the affidavit.
Combs is next scheduled to appear in court on March 20 for a preliminary hearing, court records show. He posted a $50,000 surety bail on Monday.
The family of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield served notice Monday to the city of Aurora that they intend to file a lawsuit in connection with the August shooting death of the unarmed Black man.
Belt-Stubblefield was 37 when he was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer during an Aug. 30 traffic stop, and his then 18-year-old son witnessed the shooting. A notice of claim — a legal step necessary before suing the city — was filed on behalf of Belt-Stubblefield’s family and a second notice was filed on behalf of his son, Zion Murphy.
The family, along with their lawyer Milo Schwab, held a news conference to announce the filing and then attended the Aurora City Council meeting where they spoke about a lack of transparency surrounding the shooting and a need for accountability for officer Matthew Neely, who fired the fatal shots. Neely’s name had not been released by the police department.
“No child should ever have to witness that,” said Erica Murphy, Zion Murphy’s mother. “No child should have to carry the trauma for the rest of their life. Rajon was more than a headline. He was more than a police report. He was a father. He was loved. He mattered.”
On the night of the shooting, Neely tried to pull over Belt-Stubblefield for speeding and a possible DUI near East Sixth Avenue and Sable Boulevard. Zion Murphy was driving behind his father in another car.
AURORA, CO – FEBRUARY 23: Family and attorneys of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield hold a press conference at the Aurora Municipal Center to announce legal action concerning Belt-Stubblefield who was fatally shot by Aurora police last August on February 23, 2026 in Aurora, Colorado. After the press conference, the crowd gather inside the Aurora City Council chambers to address the mayor and council members. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
Belt-Stubblefield fled and then rear-ended one car before crossing a median and hitting a second vehicle. He was armed but tossed a handgun into the grass before walking toward the officer, Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at the time.
Belt-Stubblefield ignored orders to stop and raised his hands, and Neely punched him in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, according to Chamberlain’s account in the days after the shooting. Belt-Stubblefield raised his fist and repeatedly asked if the officer was “ready for this,” Chamberlain said.
The officer shot Belt-Stubblefield as he continued to move toward him, backing Neely into the street, Chamberlain said.
Belt-Stubblefield died at the scene.
But the notices of claim filed by Schwab offer a different perspective on what happened.
Neely pointed his weapon at Belt-Stubblefield as soon as he exited his wrecked car, and Belt-Stubblefield asked the officer not to shoot him as he tossed his gun into the grass. Neely tried to grab Belt-Stubblefield by the neck and take him to the ground, but the officer is the one who fell, according to the notice of claim. Belt-Stubblefield did not take aggressive action and tried to walk away.
Neely then followed Belt-Stubblefield, shoved him in the back and then as Belt-Stubblefield turned to speak to his son Neely “suckerpunched Mr. Belt-Stubblefield in the back of the head, causing Mr. Belt-Stubblefield to put his fists up to protect his head,” the notice of claim stated.
Neely backed into the street with his gun and fired three times. The first two shots struck Belt-Stubblefield in the chest, and he stopped and looked at Neely. Neely then fired the third shot into Belton-Stubblefield’s head, killing him at the scene, the notice of claim said.
Schwab said the city has not communicated with the family in the six months since the shooting, and the officer has not been disciplined for his actions.
“We’ve given it six months,” he said. “We’re done waiting.”
The shooting drew national attention, leading prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump to visit with Belt-Stubblefield’s widow and to condemn the fatal shooting.
Aurora has been in the spotlight for police brutality multiple times in the past decade, most notably for the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man who died during a violent arrest even though he had not committed a crime. McClain’s name became a rallying cry in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Two Aurora paramedics and a police officer were convicted for their roles in McClain’s death. Two others were acquitted, and the city paid $15 million to McClain’s parents to settle a civil rights lawsuit.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser placed the department under a consent decree after McClain’s death after his investigation found a pattern of racially biased police and excessive force within the department.
In 2015, Aurora paid a $2.6 million settlement — the largest in city history at the time — to the family of Naeschylus Carter-Vinzant, an unarmed Black man who shot by a city police officer. Officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant after Carter-Vinzant had removed a monitoring bracelet from his ankle. That settlement also came with an agreement from the city to improve police oversight and to improve community relations.
The family of Kilyn Lewis, an unarmed Black man killed by Aurora police in 2024, sued the city in May for wrongful death. That case is pending.
A man who shot two women in an Aurora apartment in 2024, killing one of them, was convicted this month of murder, according to court records.
Kelynn Lewis, 34, was arrested and charged in February 2024 with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, witness tampering and four counts of child abuse in Adams County District Court.
On Feb. 13, after a five-day trial, an Adams County jury convicted Lewis on lesser charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, court records show.
Lewis was also convicted on all four counts of child abuse and of tampering with a witness, according to a copy of the jury verdict sheet.
Aurora police officers responded to reports of a shooting inside an apartment in the 1700 block of Paris Street, near the University of Colorado Hospital, at about 8:20 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2024.
The person who called 911 told dispatchers that a woman, identified by police as 35-year-old Vatrice Lashae Little, had been shot in the face by a man, according to Lewis’ arrest affidavit. Little was taken to the hospital, where she was declared dead.
Little was inside her cousin’s apartment on Paris Street when Lewis, the cousin’s ex-husband, entered with a gun, police wrote in the affidavit.
Lewis shot at his ex-wife, who played dead, and fired an additional four to five rounds when Little moved in front of her cousin’s body to intervene, according to the document. Four children were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting but were not injured.
Earlier that day, the cousin had called Lewis to tell him that he was not the biological father of her youngest child, police said.
Lewis will next appear in court on May 15 for a sentencing hearing, according to court records.
The owners of Aurora’s blighted Edge of Lowry apartment complex, where multiple violent criminal incidents connected to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua catapulted the city into the national spotlight, will sell the properties and pay the city $300,000.
In a Feb. 10 settlement agreement, Five Dallas Partners — an affiliate of CBZ Management — and Aurora city officials agreed to settle the civil lawsuit brought by the city to avoid “the uncertainty and expense of the lawsuit.”
In exchange for paying the city $300,000 and selling the property, Aurora officials will cancel all liens or summons against Five Dallas Partners, according to the filing.
The company will also hire private security to monitor the properties at 1218, 1238, 1248, 1258 and 1268 North Dallas St. until they are sold or “returned to a commercially viable habitable use” to limit police response to the buildings.
The $300,000 payment is “a partial reimbursement for costs the city suffered in responding to, closing, maintaining and securing the buildings in the company’s absence over the last two years,” Aurora city officials said in a statement.
“The agreement the city reached with Five Dallas Partners is a resolution that is amenable for both parties to avoid the risk and costs associated with a jury trial and to position the company’s property to be sold to new independent ownership,” Aurora officials said.
An attorney for Five Dallas Partners did not respond to an email seeking comment about the settlement.
A sixth building at Edge of Lowry — which is owned by a different CBZ-connected company — is still in a receivership, city officials said.
The settlement is separate from other ongoing cases against CBZ Management, which owned and operated apartment complexes in metro Denver through several affiliated companies, including Five Dallas Partners.
CBZ owner Zev Baumgarten has multiple open arrest warrants after he failed to appear in Aurora Municipal Court for a code violations hearing in June.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office is also investigating the company over reports of unsafe living conditions and allegations of fraud and deceptive practices.
While tenants say squalid living conditions and poor management at CBZ-connected apartments date back to 2020, problems at the Edge of Lowry first gained national attention in August 2024, when residents recorded a group of armed men forcing their way into an apartment.
Eleven suspected Tren de Aragua members were arrested in December 2024 after police say they kidnapped and tortured a couple living at the complex. The suspects had previously extorted and forced the couple to pay them an additional rent, investigators said.
The kidnapping was enough for an Aurora judge to grant city officials an emergency closure order for Edge of Lowry. The buildings were officially shuttered in February.
Another CBZ-owned complex in Aurora, Aspen Grove at 1568 Nome St., remains closed after it was ruled uninhabitable under city code, while the Whispering Pines complex at 1357 Helena St., is being managed by a court-appointed receiver.
Aurora students walked out of school on Friday in protest of the Trump administration’s continued mass deportation campaign, the second walkout staged by the city’s students this week and the third in two weeks.
The Aurora Police Department estimates that 500 to 600 students from up to 11 schools participated in the walkouts. Between around 10:30 a.m. and noon, the students left their schools, marched downtown and gathered in front of City Hall, police said.
East Aurora High School students were seen walking out and marching towards City Hall with flags and signs at around noon.
At City Hall, students were chanting things like “ICE out,” in reference to one of the federal agencies spearheading the mass deportations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Some blew whistles, which have become a symbol of resistance to ICE. Others held signs saying things like “Liberty and justice for all,” “Love melts ICE,” “Hate will not make us great” and “Families belong together.”
Between the protesters’ signs, Mexican and other flags flapped in the wind.
Meanwhile, cars driving by honked in apparent support as adults in high-visibility vests stood between the protestors and the road to encourage them to stay on the sidewalk.
For the most part, students remained on sidewalks, did not significantly impact traffic and complied with verbal directions, according to a police spokesperson.
No arrests were made during Friday’s walkouts, but police officers did address several reported disturbances, the spokesperson said.
Multiple drivers were issued traffic-related citations, including a vehicle that was driving recklessly with the driver issued multiple citations, a statement from the police department said.
At one point, a counter-protester holding a Trump flag stood on the opposite side of the street from the student protesters until he was chased away by a group of the students. Officers responded to a report of this incident, police said.
That group of protesters was then seen marching down Broadway before turning on Galena Boulevard and rejoining the rest of the student protesters through the Water Street Mall.
Around 1:30 p.m., groups began leaving the downtown area, separating into smaller groups and traveling to different locations throughout the city, according to a police spokesperson. Most activity was over by around 3 p.m.
But, after the downtown crowd had dispersed, an aggravated battery was reported in the 300 block of North Lincoln Avenue following a fight involving several young people, police said. The incident is still under investigation.
State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, attended the students’ protest. Speaking with reporters before the walkout at East Aurora High School, she said that she was there because she believes in the right to peacefully assemble.
“The students are our future,” she told The Beacon-News. “They are why I do the work that I do every single day, so I’m here to stand with them.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor ICE immediately responded to a request for comment about recent student walkouts in Aurora.
Many students at the protest in downtown Aurora on Feb. 13, 2026, held signs with messages of unity. (R. Christian Smith/The Beacon-News)
West Aurora School District 129 saw 50 students from its middle schools and 200 students from its high school walk out of class Friday, a district spokesperson said. Students from Indian Prairie School District 204 also participated in the walkouts, according to a district spokesperson.
East Aurora School District 131 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, East Aurora School District 131 and West Aurora School District 129 posted on Facebook a joint message from the districts’ two superintendents that discouraged students from walking out, asking students’ family and community members to encourage them to stay in school.
“When we discourage student walkouts, it’s a result of safety and a desire to protect the children placed in our care during the school day,” West Aurora Superintendent Michael Smith said in the video.
East Aurora, West Aurora and Indian Prairie school districts all said that students who walked out of class Friday would be marked as having an unexcused absence from class.
Both a Facebook post from East Aurora and the video message from the two districts’ superintendents included safety guidelines for students to follow if they did decide to walk out, including walking only on the sidewalk, not throwing items at others, having respectful interactions and following traffic laws.
“Videos from Monday’s walkout showed students not following these protocols — this is unacceptable and puts everyone at risk,” said East Aurora’s Facebook post. “We value student voice and encourage expression through safe, respectful means while remaining engaged in learning.”
In their video message, the two school districts’ superintendents said they were committed to finding a time outside of the school day for students and their families to make their voices heard in a way that is safe and respectful.
The Aurora Police Department, also in a post on Facebook, said Friday morning it was aware of several student walkouts planned for that day. Like the posts from the school districts, it also encouraged students to stay in school.
“For those who choose to participate, we ask that they do so peacefully, follow the law and help ensure the situation does not escalate,” the police’s Facebook post said.
The Aurora Police Department increased staffing and worked with community leaders, event marshals and organizers to have open lines of communication, to monitor conditions and to encourage peaceful participation, according to the post. It also warned residents of traffic disruptions near where gatherings would take place and encouraged travelers to find alternative routes.
On Monday, around 1,500 students from area schools walked out of school toward downtown Aurora. Three students were arrested during that protest and later charged with multiple crimes, which drew criticism from local officials and sparked a protest at the Aurora Police Department on Tuesday evening.
Specifically, the three students were charged with improper walking in the roadway, obstructing and resisting a peace officer, officials said. One of the three was also charged with aggravated battery to a police officer.
In a Facebook post, police said that two of the students were “contributing to the unsafe conditions” and were taken into custody after they resisted officers’ attempts to detain and identify them. The third student then “intervened and punched an officer in the head, causing a laceration,” according to the post.
Students were given many opportunities to move out of traffic and continue their demonstration safely, Aurora Chief of Police Matt Thomas said in a separate Facebook post.
As the situation continued, officers saw rocks and water bottles being thrown at police vehicles, physical fights breaking out among students, intimidation of passing drivers and reckless driving close to the crowd, Thomas said in his post.
An officer then approached two protesters who police believed were the main contributors to the ongoing unsafe and unlawful behavior, according to Thomas. He said that, despite clear direction, the encounter quickly escalated when the two pulled away and actively attempted to evade the officer, so several additional officers came to that officer’s assistance.
Videos circulating online seem to show what Thomas describes in his post: police officers tackling and wrestling protesters to the ground, and a protester punching an officer in the head. He said that the video shared online shows an officer tackling someone who appeared to be compliant, but said that the brief clips do not capture the full sequence of events.
The use of force is now under investigation by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which has received all body-worn camera footage, reports and related evidence from the Aurora Police Department, the office said in a news release Thursday.
A comprehensive review of all available information will be done to see whether the actions were consistent with department policy, established training and applicable law, according to the release. Officials said that, once the review is complete, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office will publish a full report with its findings to the police department and to the public.
Villa, in a statement made following Monday’s protest, said that the videos circulating online are “deeply disturbing and unacceptable” and show young people being “restrained and handled like criminals in front of their peers,” she said.
“Young people from our community peacefully exercised their constitutional right to protest the harmful actions of ICE and were met with force and violence by the institution entrusted with their safety,” she said. “Police officers are responsible for protecting every member of our community, especially children.”
A protest was held on Tuesday evening in response to the actions of police at the Monday event and the arrest of three students during the walkout. Those protesters, standing in front of the Aurora Police Department, chanted and held signs against both ICE and the police department, called for the charges to be dropped against the students and called for Police Chief Thomas to be fired.
George Gutierrez, who was one of many speakers at the Tuesday evening protest and last year was awarded $1 million in a lawsuit against an Aurora police officer for excessive force, said he attended to hold the Aurora Police Department accountable.
There’s a right way to protest that’s respectful, according to Gutierrez. But even if the students did something wrong, he said, that doesn’t make it right for the police to use excessive force.
“They need to be held accountable, because they always talk about holding us accountable, but they never hold themselves accountable,” Gutierrez said.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch, at a meeting of the Aurora City Council on Tuesday evening, said he admired the students’ efforts to take a stand and make their voices heard but encouraged them to take an “alternative and equally-effective course of action” by getting involved in local community watch and rapid response groups or by forming their own groups to “strengthen the community response” to federal immigration enforcement agents.
If students are going to protest, Aurora wants to work with them to make sure their voices are heard in a safe way, according to Laesch. At Monday’s protest, many stuck to sidewalks but a small number insisted on walking in the street and antagonized the police by throwing water bottles at their vehicles, he said.
“I’m disturbed that children feel compelled to leave school in the first place and march in the streets over an issue that adults should be dealing with in Washington, D.C., but that’s the times that we’re living in,” he said.
After Friday’s protest, Laesch told The Beacon-News that students may not have been the most coordinated, but they seemed to hear the message about staying on the sidewalks. Plus many adults from local groups came out to marshal the protest, he said.
“The community stepped up. The police hung back,” Laesch said of the protest on Friday. “We didn’t have any interactions between protesters and police, which is what I wanted, and no kids got hurt.
“So overall, I think it was a success,” he said.
Student walkouts to protest ICE have been happening in the Chicago area since at least October, when hundreds of students in Little Village walked out of class after several people were taken into custody in their neighborhood the week before. But this month has seen a high number of these types of protests, including in Chicago’s North Side,Elgin, Naperville, Waukegan and Hammond, Indiana.
Philip Morris International has begun ramping up production of its increasingly popular ZYN nicotine pouches at a new factory in Aurora, south of Denver International Airport.
PMI markets ZYN pouches as a much cleaner and safer method for obtaining nicotine than smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco, although FDA restrictions prevent the company from marketing its pouches as a smoking cessation product.
In January 2025, the Food and Drug Administration authorized ZYN as the first nicotine pouch cleared for marketing in the U.S, stating it is “appropriate for the protection of public health.” But the FDA didn’t “approve” the pouches, given that it still considers all nicotine products harmful and potentially addictive.
Instead, the company uses terms like “no smoke,” “no spitting,” and “no tobacco leaf.” That last term is key.
Brian Erkkila, PMI’s senior adviser of scientific engagement, said that smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S. Nearly 30 million Americans continue to smoke, and each year, 500,000 people die from cigarette smoking.
Smokers expose themselves to 1,000-plus compounds and carcinogens every time they light up. Some of the most damaging items on that long list are carbon monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, formaldehyde, benzene, acrolein, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia.
The dangerous compounds are a leading cause of multiple cancers, including lung, mouth, throat, and esophageal. Smoking contributes to a variety of cardiovascular diseases and is the primary cause of bronchitis, emphysema and reduced lung function. The nicotine addiction is so compelling that smokers make a dangerous trade-off, shortening their lives and harming those around them.
Enter the ZYN pouches, which come in 6-milligram and 3-milligram sizes. Flavors include Chill, Menthol, Cinnamon, Peppermint, Citrus, Smooth, Coffee, Spearmint, Cool Mint and Wintergreen. Users typically ingest four or more a day, tucking a pouch in between the upper or lower lip and gums.
The pouches contain pharmaceutical-grade nicotine, extracted from tobacco leaves but without the toxins. The nicotine, which is shipped to the Aurora plant, is mixed with a proprietary plant-based filler and flavorings and then piped down to the factory floor. Rows of machines place it into small pouches, which are weighed and scanned to ensure they have the right content. Fifteen pouches are placed into a can. Cans are stacked in groups of five, wrapped and eventually placed into boxes for shipping to retailers.
The process is fairly straightforward and largely automated. Workers monitor the machines and the conveyor lines to make sure things are flowing smoothly, but they aren’t stuck with repetitive motions for hours on end. Quality control workers dart in and out to grab product samples for frequent quality control tests.
Production and worker training are underway in the completed sections as 800 construction workers push hard to finish the remaining sections at the 600,000-square-foot facility. Between capital spending and construction wages, PMI, through its Swedish Match subsidiary, will invest about $1 billion in the Aurora plant.
Aurora will provide $7.1 million in tax rebates to PMI, while the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved $4.5 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits and Adams County has agreed to chip in another $4.3 million in incentives.
The company has hired about 120 of the 500 workers it plans to eventually employ in Aurora, which is the location of its second U.S. ZYN plant after one in Owensboro, Ky. An online portal is available for those interested in applying for a position. The average wage is expected to be $90,000 a year.
The project has come together quickly since it was announced in July 2024, a rapid schedule driven by soaring demand. ZYN sales have grown by triple-digit rates in recent years, and the brand now accounts for an estimated 70% to 80% of nicotine pouches sold in the U.S.
ZYN pouches, and the plant itself, are not without opposition.
Public health officials argue that switching to alternative delivery methods for nicotine, even ones with fewer toxic compounds, doesn’t address the core issue of addiction. In the debate between harm reduction versus abstinence, they argue that the latter is both achievable and the only genuine solution.
Even in its purest form, nicotine comes with cardiovascular impacts, including an increased heart rate, temporary rises in blood pressure and constriction of blood vessels. Nicotine pouches are relatively new, meaning long-term impacts are still to be determined.
Users who don’t stop smoking can find themselves in worse shape than when they started using pouches, warned Arnold Levinson, a clinical professor and professor emeritus in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Colorado School of Public Health.
“If you want to quit smoking, don’t think you’ll do it by ‘switching’ to ZYN – you’re likely get hooked on ZYN but keep smoking anyway,” said Levinson, who has done extensive research on tobacco use and smoking cessation and has played an important role in shaping the state’s tobacco policies.
A container of ZYN nicotine pouches at the office of Phillip Morris International’s facility in Aurora on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Erkkila, who is a former lead toxicologist at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, counters that half of ZYN users no longer smoke and many of the remainder smoke less.
“People do move away from cigarettes in a meaningful way,” he said.
ZYN pouches offer a slower nicotine absorption rate, which results in lower dopamine spikes. Pouches also come with fewer “habit loops,” such as lighting up, inhaling, and grinding down a stub, and they are less ritualistic and social in their usage.
Luke Niforatos, executive vice president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., said pouches are “extremely addictive, given their high nicotine content, and bear risks for cardiovascular and oral health.”
The public health community is especially worried about the impacts on underage users and young adults, he said. He and Levinson both argue that efforts to limit those under 21 from purchasing and using tobacco products are far from foolproof and safeguards are often circumvented.
Underage users may view pouches as a “healthier” and harder-to-detect way to get a nicotine buzz. And as with vaping products, flavors tend to have a greater pull on younger users. Denver voters, by a wide margin, banned the sale of flavored nicotine products in November. The law took effect at the start of the year, meaning most of the ZYN product lines won’t be available in the city.
“No one has ever kept kids from getting tobacco products — ZYN is another path to nicotine addiction and health problems for young people. The investment in ZYN manufacturing would have been much better spent elsewhere,” Levinson said.
Research shows that nicotine use can impair attention, learning and impulse control in underage users, one of many reasons why age limits exist.
PMI said it requires all retailers of its products to verify the ages of buyers and inspects retailers to ensure compliance. It follows strict rules, including those mandated by the FDA, to make sure the product is packaged and marketed in a way that appeals only to adult smokers.
The National Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted by the FDA and the CDC, found that 1.5% of middle school and high school students in the U.S. reported using nicotine pouches in 2023. By 2024, that had risen to 1.8%. Pouches remain well below the 5.9% usage found for e‑cigarettes, the most popular method.
While e-cigarette usage is down from 7.7% in 2023, more underage vapers have begun to use pouches as well, the survey found.
Eight people from metro Denver were indicted on federal charges related to drug trafficking, weapons and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said Thursday.
The suspects — all current or former residents of Denver, Aurora, Commerce City and Wheat Ridge — are facing charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute meth, fentanyl and cocaine, federal officials said in a news release.
Law enforcement officers arrested Dario Perez Quintero, 34; Guadalupe Mendoza Martinez, 46; Pedro Mendoza Martinez, 54; Abimael Felix Luque, 32; David Uvaldo Mora Sanchez, 32; Hector Joel Quijada Portillo, 30; Oscar Noel Ruelas Molina, 44; and Jose Alexis Guzman Felix, 30, this week, according to court records.
The indictment, filed Tuesday, includes additional charges related to drug possession and distribution, illegal firearm possession and money laundering, but it does not detail how investigators determined the eight suspects were identified as being involved in the scheme.
They face up to life in prison if convicted on the first count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute, federal officials said.
The case was investigated by multiple federal agencies through the Homeland Security Task Force, including Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Two Front Range cities are eyeing more oversight for their police departments.
Lakewood’s City Council voted last week to “work toward the establishment” of an independent civilian oversight board for the city’s police department. And in Aurora, the city set aside about $330,000 this year to fund an Office of Police Accountability — even as city officials say they are still considering how oversight should be structured.
The creation of an independent oversight board in Lakewood would put the city into the company of just a handful of Front Range cities with such boards, including Denver and Boulder. The push for more oversight came to a head in Lakewood after the death of Jax Gratton, a 34-year-old transgender woman who disappeared in April and was found dead in June.
Lakewood police faced criticism for their handling of the case, including for announcing Gratton’s death by using her deadname and, later, for a lack of transparency about the investigation. Gratton’s case spurred the move toward an oversight committee, but the push is also rooted in wider issues around trust between police and community, Lakewood Councilwoman Isabel Cruz said.
“Although this specific incident really brought this to the fore, and the demands of community activists really pushed us, it is rooted in a lot of different conversations,” she said.
City Council members overwhelmingly voted Jan. 26 to create a 12-month committee to work toward the creation of a permanent oversight board. The temporary committee will have access to police records, completed internal affairs investigations and body-worn camera footage, and will be able to review complaints submitted to the police department.
At the end of the 12-month period, the committee will report to the City Council about how a permanent police oversight committee would be staffed and structured, among other recommendations.
Council members will then have the power to move forward with the permanent board or end the oversight effort.
Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero declined to comment on the push for oversight. About three dozen police officers packed last week’s council meeting, where Lakewood police Agent Quinn Pratt-Cordova, an executive board member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21, spoke against independent oversight.
An oversight board would be redundant, he said, and could damage officers’ trust in the city. Such oversight might “deter top talent,” from the police department, Pratt-Cordova said.
“Civilian oversight boards are rare and often follow severe systemic issues like those in other cities, issues that the majority of you don’t agree exist in the local police department,” Pratt-Cordova told council members. “The unnecessary creation of an oversight board attempts to apply an unwarranted national narrative to Lakewood PD.”
Lakewood Mayor Wendi Strom said she hopes any permanent effort will be aimed at improving police-community relations in ways that go beyond traditional independent oversight.
“The oversight word, I think, it is a big sticking point and one that — especially for folks within the public safety realm — has a very specific meaning,” she said in an interview. “So what we end up with, it is hard to tell. But for me, and I think City Council has been pretty clear on this in multiple conversations over the last month, the end goal is ultimately to help our community members feel more comfortable reaching out when there is a need.”
In Aurora, the police department entered into a consent decree — court-ordered reforms overseen by an independent monitor — after the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after Aurora police officers violently restrained him and paramedics injected him with a too-large dose of a powerful sedative.
McClain’s death was part of a pattern of racial bias and excessive force within the Aurora Police Department, state officials later found.
Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor hopes the city’s two-person Office of Police Accountability will serve as an independent monitor for the police department when police exit the consent decree and are no longer under the supervision of the court-ordered monitor. The creation of such a position is a requirement of the consent decree.
The new office would report to the city manager, Batchelor said, but would be created with built-in protections aimed at ensuring its independence, including putting into city ordinance the office’s right to have free and unfettered access to information and budgetary safeguards to ensure it could not be defunded by the city manager. The protections would mirror Aurora’s approach to its internal auditor, which operates independently and would work in tandem with the new office, Batchelor said.
“I don’t get to tell the internal auditor, ‘That might make me look bad, don’t publish that,’” Batchelor said. “That can’t happen.”
The Office of Police Accountability, which Batchelor hopes to be ready to hire for in a few months, would have “contemporaneous oversight” of any city investigation, he said. The office would not oversee police discipline and would not conduct its own investigations into police misconduct. Instead, the employees would be able to flag problems or concerns about such investigations to Batchelor, the City Council or to the public.
Aurora Councilwoman Amy Wiles, who has helped to organize community meetings to discuss police oversight as recently as this week, said residents need a neutral place to report police misconduct.
“Right now, if you want to report something — you had a poor interaction with a police officer or you feel something wasn’t right — to call and report that is a bit invasive. You have to call the police department,” she said. “…So we are hoping this provides that level of security to community to say, ‘Hey if something went wrong, here is this neutral person you can reach out to.’”
The Office of Police Accountability could receive complaints of police misconduct directly from the public, Batchelor said, and then would “partner with the (police) department to make sure that any complaints are fully investigated.”
That approach concerns Omar Montgomery, Rocky Mountain state conference president for the NAACP.
“If you are going to have true transparency and true accountability, it can’t be that organization doing the investigation,” he said. “It has to be an independent organization. …If it goes back to the police department, I would have concerns (about whether) that is an independent department that is investigating abuse allegations.”
But he added that the Office of Police Accountability is “a good start,” and noted that it is already funded in a tough budget year.
Batchelor pointed out that some critical incidents, including police shootings, are already investigated by outside agencies. Colorado lawmakers banned police departments from investigating their own police shootings in 2015. Other types of complaints are handled solely by the police department’s internal affairs unit.
The city is still considering what the ultimate structure of the office and oversight will look like, Wiles said. The end design may include an advisory board of residents who work with the Office of Police Accountability in some fashion, though their role is limited by the city’s charter.
An 18-year-old pedestrian died Saturday after being injured in an Aurora hit-and-run 11 days earlier, police said.
Aurora police responded to the hit-and-run crash near East Colfax Avenue and North Sable Boulevard at about 9 p.m. on Jan. 20, according to a news release from the police department.
The 18-year-old was crossing Colfax against the traffic signal when an SUV struck him, police said. The SUV driver then fled the scene.
Paramedics took the pedestrian to the hospital, where he died from his injuries on Saturday, according to the release. He will be identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.
Talal Maaliki, a 71-year-old man believed to be driving the SUV, was arrested just hours after the crash and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, according to Arapahoe County court records. Additional charges may be filed by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office stemming from the pedestrian’s death.
A 21-year-old Aurora man was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after police say he attacked a woman walking on the High Line Canal Trail in Expo Park in May.
Jack Khaidav was arrested Tuesday night after detectives received a community tip through Metro Denver Crime Stoppers about the case, the Aurora Police Department said in a news release.
The assault happened the morning of May 8, when a woman told police she was attacked from behind by an unknown man and managed to fight him off and warn other women in the area.
Detectives obtained surveillance video of the man leaving the scene, and a community member recently submitted a tip that it was Khaidav, department officials said.
Khaidav is being held at the Arapahoe County Jail without bail. He is set to appear in court Tuesday for a filing of charges hearing, according to court records.
Rob Andrews, 41, was pulled over by Aurora police officers at 9:31 p.m. Saturday after he was seen making an improper left turn, almost hitting a curb, making a U-turn and weaving across lanes of traffic near South Chambers Road and South Chambers Circle, according to an arrest report.
Andrews told police he was trying to find his son’s car to jump-start it, and officers noticed he smelled of alcohol and had pinkish, watery eyes, police wrote in the report.
When officers asked for his driver’s license, Andrews first gave them his City Council ID before handing over his license. He also mentioned to police that his vehicle belonged to a nonprofit, officers wrote in the report.
Andrews told police he had consumed two drinks containing gin that evening and agreed to participate in roadside tests. He failed a test for nystagmus, or involuntary eye movements when tracking an object, officers wrote.
Aurora police arrested Andrews on suspicion of drunken driving, and he agreed to a breath test, which he took at the jail at 11:02 p.m. The test showed he had a breath alcohol content of .252, more than three times the DUI limit in Colorado of .08.
Andrews was cited on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with excessive alcohol content, failing to drive in a single lane and making an illegal left turn.
Aurora Police traffic investigators announced they have arrested a suspect after a woman was killed early Friday while trying to cross the road near a bus stop in a hit-and-run crash that forced the closure of Havana Street.
Police arrested Marcos Ortega-Lopez, 31, on suspicion of leaving the scene of a fatal crash, a felony, according to an agency posting on social media Friday afternoon.
But police haven’t located the vehicle involved — a 2007 blue Toyota Corolla (license plate CYXB39) with front-end damage — and appealed to the public for help via Aurora911, 303-627-3100 or @CrimeStoppersCO (720-913-STOP).
The crash occurred at about 5:15 a.m. near the intersection of Havana and East 4th Way. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, Aurora Police Department spokesman Matt Longshore said.
“She was crossing the street, over Havana. It was a hit and run,” he said.
The police at first weren’t certain about the vehicle involved because of conflicting reports.
🚨 Help Locate a Vehicle in Fatal Hit & Run 🚨
Aurora Police Traffic investigators have arrested 31-year-old Marcos Ortega-Lopez in connection with a fatal auto-pedestrian crash that occurred early this morning on Havana Street and E. 4th Way. He was arrested for leaving the… pic.twitter.com/wycAkuzl86
Across Colorado, in bustling municipal courtrooms and council chambers, in city attorneys’ offices and public defender headquarters, legal professionals and elected officials are scrambling to make sense of a new normal.
The world of city courts was upended in late December, when the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled that municipalities cannot impose harsher punishments on lawbreakers than state statute would allow for the same offense.
Now, weeks after the court’s decision, cities are reexamining their local ordinances, judges are altering their courtroom advisements of defendants, and defense attorneys and prosecutors are negotiating plea agreements in an entirely different landscape.
“These are uncharted waters,” said Colette Tvedt, Denver’s chief municipal public defender.
Her office on Monday gave a presentation to the Denver City Council, outlining the implications of the state Supreme Court’s ruling while expressing urgency that the legislative body act quickly to bring the city’s code into compliance.
“Without council action, applying this rule to our sentencing ordinances will lead to endless litigation, confusion and additional violations of Denverites’ constitutional rights,” the public defender’s office wrote in its presentation.
Until Denver’s code is amended, Tvedt’s office argued, there are legal questions about whether the city’s criminal laws are enforceable because the sentences for many offenses are unclear. There is also a risk that defendants will receive illegal sentences because municipal court judges might come to conclusions that higher courts later overturn, the public defenders said, warning that the entire process could represent a “huge expense and uncertainty for years to come.”
Councilmembers, for their part, have expressed their desire to change the city’s code so it aligns with state penalties. The question will be determining which offenses have comparable state counterparts.
Sarah Parady, one of the councilwomen spearheading the changes, said she hoped to have language outlining proposed alterations by the end of the month.
“This is cuckoo bananas if we don’t do our job,” she said.
Other cities are also taking action.
The Littleton City Council on Jan. 6 passed an emergency ordinance amending its general penalty provision in order to “comply with state law and to avoid confusion.” The updated language states that penalties for non-felony criminal violations where the prohibited conduct is identical to a corresponding state charge will be capped at the state law’s maximum sentence.
Reid Betzing, the city attorney, acknowledged during the council meeting that the city is aware of what it needs to do to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision, but that it upends 120 years of home-rule doctrine in Colorado.
“We’re not necessarily super excited about it,” he said.
The city councils in Westminster and Aurora on Monday held executive sessions with their attorneys to review the Supreme Court decision and how it impacts their cities’ codes.
“Obviously, this decision bolsters the need to look at our sentencing practices,” Alison Coombs, an Aurora councilmember, said in an interview.
Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, said his organization was “exceptionally disappointed” in the ruling, adding that it will mean “a complete revisiting of what we thought municipal courts were constitutionally allowed to do.”
There are broader implications, he said. “It’s not a threat, it’s just facts: If municipal courts are essentially de facto arms of the state, why on earth would municipalities go through the time and expense of going through those cases?”
‘This will make our jobs a lot easier’
Local judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, meanwhile, are already seeing the decision’s impact in municipal courtrooms around the state.
Aurora Municipal Court Judge Brian Whitney issued an order last year pausing more than 300 cases in which attorneys challenged issues under the same pretenses as those before the Supreme Court. This month, Whitney ordered that those cases can now move forward, but must adhere to the new guidelines set by the high court.
“Any sentence imposed… must not exceed the applicable state statutory maximum for the corresponding identical offense,” he wrote in a Jan. 2 order.
Arvada Municipal Court Presiding Judge Kathryn Kurtz said the ruling doesn’t change too much in her courtroom, since she already generally stuck to state guidelines. There will be some small, technical updates, such as changing the advisement sheet that informs defendants about possible penalties for their infractions.
“It’s good to have finality on it,” she said in an interview. “We now know this is the law and we can move forward. Judges work very well with rules. When you give us clarity, it provides guidance. When there’s gray, that gives us issues. This will make our jobs a lot easier.”
Defense attorneys say they anticipate the ruling will also have a significant impact on plea negotiations with their clients.
Consider Denver’s municipal code: Retail theft or trespassing are each punishable by up to 300 days in jail. In state court, those offenses carry up to 10 days in jail. In Aurora, those same offenses could mean up to 364 days in jail — more than 36 times the potential sentence in state court.
If a defendant in Denver faced 300 days in jail and had multiple prior convictions, plea negotiations might start with 30 days and go up to 120 days, said Tvedt, the Denver municipal defender chief. But if the maximum penalty for a minor offense is just 10 days, their client might take a plea that would involve just a couple of days behind bars.
Individuals might also be more willing to take their cases to trial, knowing that they don’t risk up to a year in jail, defense attorneys said.
“This is really gonna be transformative to municipal courts,” Tvedt said.
‘Effects of this are wide and varied’
Then there’s the question of what to do with people who have been sentenced since March 1, 2022, when the new state guidelines took effect. Multiple attorneys said they believed anyone with a sentence that conflicts with the Supreme Court ruling has a legal argument that it should be negated.
“Right now, the priority has to be on individuals already sentenced and still serving illegal sentences,” said Elizabeth Cadiz, Aurora’s chief public defender.
There’s still plenty of confusion surrounding the new rules.
In Denver’s municipal court last week, a judge advised a defendant charged with trespassing that they faced up to 300 days in jail — an offense that would only involve up to 10 days in jail under the state guidelines.
Those involved in municipal court operations say it will take time to figure everything out, but the wheels are in motion all over the state.
“Most of us, our heads are spinning,” Cadiz said. “The effects of this are wide and varied.”
A Tuesday afternoon crash in central Aurora killed a motorcyclist and sent three motorists to the hospital, police said.
The fatal crash, which involved a motorcycle and a car, happened at S. Dunkirk Street and E. Colorado Drive, near the Buckley Space Force Base, according to a 2:37 p.m. post from the Aurora Police Department.
Paramedics took three people in the car to the hospital with minor injuries, police said. The motorcyclist was also taken to a hospital, where the motorcyclist later died, according to a 3:05 p.m. update.
Southbound Dunkirk Street was temporarily closed Tuesday afternoon for the crash cleanup and investigation, police said. The road reopened shortly after 4:30 p.m.
An Aurora pedestrian died Saturday night after being hit by a car while crossing the street, police said.
The pedestrian, a 43-year-old man who has not been publicly identified, was walking west across Peoria Street at East Colfax Avenue outside of the crosswalk when he was hit, according to a news release from the Aurora Police Department. The crash happened just before 11 p.m. Saturday.
He was also crossing against the traffic signal, police said. The white Ford SUV that hit the man while driving south on Peoria Street had a green light.
Paramedics took the man to the hospital, where he later died, police said. He will be identified by the Adams County Coroner’s Office.
Speed and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the crash, according to the Aurora Police Department.
As of Sunday evening, no charges were expected to be filed in the crash “unless additional details are obtained through the investigation and/or reconstruction of the scene,” police said.
A teenage boy died and three men were injured in a late-night Saturday shooting in southeast Denver, on the edge of the city’s Kennedy neighborhood, police said.
A group of people had gathered in the area to celebrate the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro when the shooting happened, a spokesperson for the Denver Police Department said.
It’s unclear if the shooter was attending the event and, as of Sunday evening, no suspects had been publicly identified or arrested.
When Denver officers first responded to the shooting, they found one victim, who paramedics took to the hospital with unknown injuries.
Denver officers later learned about three additional victims, police said. Two were taken to hospitals in private vehicles, and a third — an unidentified 16-year-old boy — was dropped off near Iliff Avenue and South Havana Street, where he died.
The teenager will be identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
The other three victims were a 26-year-old man, a 29-year-old man and a 33-year-old man, the spokesperson said. One of the men was in critical condition Sunday evening.
Another man was in serious condition and the third was treated for a graze wound and released, police told Denver7.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of sending violent gangs — including the Trende Aragua (TdA) prison gang — to terrorize U.S. communities, specifically naming Colorado.
Maduro was captured by the United States during a “large-scale strike” early Saturday in Venezuela. The president stated that Maduro and his wife were flown to the US to stand trial.
During Saturday’s speech, the president claimed that members of TdA took over apartment complexes, likely referring to a series of kidnappings and home invasions in 2024 at the Edge of Lowry apartments in Aurora, which was shut down last year by the city after it was deemed a “criminal nuisance.”
“Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty prison gang Trende Aragua, to terrorize American communities nationwide, and he did, indeed. They were in Colorado,” President Trump said.
Sixteen Venezuelan nationals, all suspected members of TdA, were taken into custody at the Edge of Lowry apartments in 2024 shortly after a viral video showing armed men entering one of the units in the complex.
The president and other Republicans claimed that TdA’s presence in Aurora was a result of Denver’s lax policies toward thousands of South American migrants who began arriving in Denver by bus earlier that year.
In response to such criticism, during a Congressional hearing last year, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston defended Denver’s policies.
“Denver made a choice as a city — not to hate each other, but to help each other,” Johnston said. “It wasn’t perfect, and it required sacrifice from all of us, but in the end, Denver came out stronger and closer than we were before.”
These issues are not new; President Trump has attacked Aurora and Colorado multiple times in the past.
During his campaign, President Trump used Aurora as an example of bad immigration policies, saying the city was taken over by illegal immigration and gangs.
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A former Arapahoe County social worker sentenced to prison for filing a false child abuse claim against a former Aurora city councilwoman was released on parole, according to Colorado Department of Corrections records.
Robin Niceta was sentenced to four years in state prison and six months in jail in May 2024 after she was found guilty of attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, and misdemeanor false reporting of child abuse.
Niceta, 43, became embroiled in scandal in January 2022 after Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky criticized Niceta’s then-partner Vanessa Wilson, who was Aurora’s police chief, on a talk radio show.
Prosecutors said Niceta called in a false child abuse tip about Jurinsky. Niceta later pleaded guilty to lying about having brain cancer in order to delay her trial and was sentenced to probation in that case.
Niceta is listed as on parole on the Department of Corrections inmate locator, which does not specify when she was released from prison. A DOC spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about Niceta’s release.
“Decomposition occurs of organic materials within the landfill as it’s compressed, and creates Methane and CO2,” said Zachery Clayton, Manager of Environmental Medicine Planning with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.
Denver owns the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site or the so-called DADS Landfill in Arapahoe County. It’s operated by Waste Management that currently has a procedure to reduce methane gas.
“We’re actually capturing landfill methane gas, sending it to an electric engine plant, and we convert that gas into electricity and export it to the grid. Many of the residents throughout Denver enjoy that electricity, not even knowing that it came from the landfill,” said Brian Snyder, Director of Operations for Waste Management (WM) Renewable Energy.
In that process, there is excess methane that is then burned off, or ‘flared.’
“What it does is, it burns all the methane off, and then there’s subsequent pollutants that go into there, such as sulfur oxides and things like that, nitrous oxides,” said Clayton.
WM and the City and County of Denver recently agreed on a partnership to change and update that whole process.
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WM is hoping to pay for and build a new renewable natural gas plant at the DADS landfill.
“It’s going to capture about 98% of the methane that comes out of the landfill. It goes to the plant, it scrubs it, it cleans it to 98% and then it puts it into a pipeline and transmission line and goes out for distribution,” said Clayton.
The renewable natural gas can then be used as power.
“We’re going to collect over a million MMBtu of gas from the landfill, and that’s going to power nearly 15,000 homes with natural gas,” said Snyder.
Snyder adds WM has already started investing into compressed natural gas vehicles, and plans to use some of the gas from the new plant to power around 900 trash collection vehicles a year.
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There’s another large impact for anyone outside the landfill.
“Improve the air quality: that’s number one, which is extremely beneficial. It takes something that’s currently, could be dangerous, and puts it as a beneficial reuse,” said Clayton.
The project still needs to go through the planning and permitting phase. Clayton said that will also include a public input process.
If approved to move forward, the plant could be up and running by 2027.
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Two people were killed and three wounded during a shooting Christmas Eve at an apartment complex in Aurora.
Police responded about 9:30 p.m. to reports of a shooting in the 1800 block of Billings Street, Aurora police said in a news release.
A 41-year-old woman and a 17-year-old man were killed, police said. The three surviving victims were an 18-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman and a 41-year-old woman.
Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred between people who knew each other, police said. Authorities said there is no suspect information, and they have made no arrests.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
