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Tag: douglas county sheriff

  • Cyberattack on CodeRED forces Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to seek new alert network

    The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has stopped using its CodeRED system to alert residents of orders to evacuate or shelter in place or of other emergencies after learning of a cyberattack on the network and a data breach.

    Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Carlin said Monday that the county stopped using CodeRED Nov. 21 when it learned of the data breach. Two weeks before that, the sheriff’s office started getting notifications that the system was down, but couldn’t get confirmation.

    Carlin said CodeRED, accessed through an app, lost a lot of customers’ information. “We don’t trust continuing to use them.”

    Although the data haven’t been published online, the sheriff’s office is encouraging all CodeRED users to contact credit bureaus to ensure their personal information has not been compromised. The sheriff’s office was among hundreds of agencies affected by the nationwide cybersecurity attack.

    Douglas County is talking to representatives of similar alert systems and hopes to have a new network locked in within the next week or two, Carlin said. Until then, the sheriff’s department will go door-to-door in cases of a need to evacuate or shelter in place and use social media and other means to alert people, he added.

    Douglas County is one of several counties that use CodeRED to alert residents of evacuation orders and other emergencies. Weld County also is looking for a new alert provider since CodeRED went down. The Park County Sheriff’s Office decommissioned the platform as well.

    It’s unclear how many other Colorado counties use CodeRED. A message left with the company seeking more information went unreturned as of 5 p.m.

    Some counties also use the state-run Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, to notify people of wildfires and other emergencies.

    “CodeRED was a great system for us to alert the public very fast,” Carlin said. “Easy access is of concern, but we 100% believe we can mitigate it via door-to-door knocks and social media posts.”

    He said that residents will likely have to sign up for the system because their information won’t automatically be transferred.

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  • Storage unit bought at Colorado auction contained 1.7 million fentanyl pills, police say

    A Coloradan who purchased an abandoned Douglas County storage unit found that it contained 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills, plus several pounds of meth and fentanyl powder, law enforcement officials said Monday.

    The discovery amounted to a record seizure of fentanyl in Colorado, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the sixth-largest in U.S. history.

    The unit was purchased at auction after its previous renter lapsed on its payments. The new owner then called law enforcement, including the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, after opening it to discover the pills. The unit also contained 12 kilograms of fentanyl powder and two and a half pounds of methamphetamine. Law enforcement subsequently learned that the unit’s previous owner had been arrested by the DEA in April, which is why the unit’s rent went unpaid.

    Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s at least 50 times more powerful than morphine. While it has legitimate medical uses, illicitly created fentanyl has become the dominant opioid on the U.S. drug market, and it fueled an overdose crisis that surged in Colorado and across the rest of the United States. The street version of the drug is primarily pressed into pill form, typically to mimic the look of other legitimate opioid pills.

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  • Douglas County middle school teacher accused of sexually assaulting child

    A middle school health teacher in Douglas County was arrested Monday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child, according to the sheriff’s office.

    Teresa Whalin, a 28-year-old woman from Centennial, was arrested on investigation of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, internet exploitation of a child and stalking, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

    Whalin, an integrated wellness teacher at Ranch View Middle School teacher, has been employed by Douglas County School District since July 2021, according to a letter sent to parents by Ranch View principal Erin Kyllo.

    As of Wednesday, Whalin had been placed on administrative leave by the school district, Kyllo wrote in the letter.

    “We are working to find a long-term substitute teacher for our impacted students,” Kyllo wrote. “In the meantime, the entire Ranch View Middle School administrative team will support our students and ensure learning continues.”

    Lauren Penington

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  • Bullet hits Highlands Ranch middle school after neighbor accidentally fires gun

    One person was cited after accidentally firing a gun and hitting the door of a Highlands Ranch middle school Wednesday morning, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

    Deputies responded to Ranch View Middle School, 1731 W. Wildcat Reserve Parkway, after a student and teacher reported a loud noise at 11:15 a.m., sheriff’s office spokesperson Deborah Takahara said.

    Katie Langford

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  • Driver arrested in fatal car crash that killed Highlands Ranch teenager

    Driver arrested in fatal car crash that killed Highlands Ranch teenager

    The driver involved in last week’s fatal crash that killed a Highlands Ranch teenager on his way to middle school has been arrested, the sheriff’s office announced Wednesday.

    Alex Mackiewicz, 13, was crossing the intersection of Venneford Ranch Road and Highlands Ranch Parkway on his way to Mountain Ridge Middle School the morning of March 6 when the driver of a van ran a red light and collided with the teenager.

    Mackiewicz died at the scene.

    The driver — 52-year-old Ruben Amaro-Morones — was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of careless driving causing death, careless driving causing serious bodily injury and failing to obey a traffic signal, according to a Wednesday news release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

    Amaro-Morones was traveling eastbound on Highlands Ranch Parkway in the far right lane as he approached the intersection and had a red light, the release stated.

    When Amaro-Morones ran the light in his van, he collided with Mackiewicz and threw the boy from his electric skateboard before coming to a stop on the opposite side of the intersection, according to Wednesday’s release.

    According to the release, Amaro-Morones was arrested Wednesday and transported to the Douglas County Detention Facility.

    Investigators do not believe that speeding was a factor in the crash, the sheriff’s office stated in the release.

    Lauren Penington

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