Hotchkiss Marshal’s Report: Man Breaks into Occupied Hotchkiss Home

Man Breaks into Occupied Hotchkiss Home

By Thomas Wills

Hotchkiss Marshal’s Report

August and September 2015

From a written report by Marshal Dan Miller, and verbal report to the Council, by Deputy Chad Lloyd.

The unfortunate highlight of the month of August for the department occurred on August 28 in the early morning hours when Juan Porras-Reyes, 20, of Wiggins, CO, who may have been staying in Paonia, allegedly broke into a home at 430 Hwy 133.  The resident of the home, an elderly female, was awakened and attempted to use the phone to call 911 but was kept from it by Porras-Reyes. A little later she was able to distract him and escaped out of the rear of the residence while sending out an alarm on her Life Alert device. Porras-Reyes was reportedly very intoxicated and may have been under the influence of other substances.

The Marshal’s Office assisted by the Sheriff’s department arrived, and after finding the woman hiding in an outbuilding, entered the home where they found Porras-Reyes hiding under the woman’s bed.  He was taken into custody on suspicion of kidnapping, burglary, trespassing, obstruction of a telephone, and other items. He was transported to the Delta County Jail where he remained as of the second week of September. The charges are being handled by the District Attorney’s office.

The victim was unharmed and returned home.  The Marshal’s department urges citizens to lock their doors at night and never open the door to someone you don’t know and have a question about.  Call the police if someone approaches your home in a suspicious manner. Be safe.

Overall the month of August, despite the above incident and the County Fair was reasonably calm in Hotchkiss. There were 111 logged incidents, some multiple items from the same calls.  For example the home invasion incident was logged several different ways: kidnapping, burglary, trespassing, etc.  Due to officer training and other issues there were only 3 traffic contacts during the whole month, 21 VIN number inspections, 5 traffic accidents and 11 parking problems. There were 11 medical assists along with 6 assists to other agencies. There were also 3 disorderly conduct/harassment cases. There were 8 incidents of “suspicion.”

In addition there was one violation of a court ordered protection order, and one third degree assault/harassment. Animal problems were down to only two for the period. There were three civil issues and one domestic violence call. There was one curfew/loitering contact.

The Department completed 40 home and business security check logs for the month of August. The Town’s three police vehicles used a total of 97.9 gallons of fuel during the month.