Hundreds of Colorado Newspapers Stolen Day Rape Story Published

Stacks of local Colorado newspapers were stolen from their racks Wednesday morning — just hours after a bombshell story detailing a teen’s alleged gang rape at the police chief’s home ran on the front page.

The Ouray County Plaindealer broke the shocking news that three teenagers, including Chief Jeff Wood’s son, were accused of sexually assaulting a drunken girl on the bathroom floor as she faded in and out of consciousness.

Readers who preferred the physical paper didn’t get a chance to read the piece, however, according to Plaindeadler co-publisher Erin McIntyre, who authored the story.

“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,” McIntyre wrote in a Thursday night newsletter.

“It’s pretty clear that someone didn’t want the community to read the news this week. I’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions on which story they didn’t want you to read,” she continued.

A suspect was identified Friday, McIntyre said. The person’s identity will remain under wraps until a citation is handed down, but the co-publisher teased that they weren’t related to Woods or the three accused rapists.

According to the Plaindealer’s reporting, a 17-year-old girl told investigators she was raped more than once at Chief Woods’ home in May during a late-night party with his stepson Nate Dieffenderffer and two other men.

The victim claimed she passed out from heavy drinking in a bedroom, but woke up naked with Dieffenderffer on top of her, raping her.

The police chief’s son restrained her when she tried to fight back and scream as the other suspects, one of whom was laughing, watched, according to court records.

According to the NY Post, Chief Woods was reportedly sleeping in the home during the assault.