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Englewood Police Department

Shooter who killed boy in Englewood alley sentenced to prison

The man who shot and killed a middle school student in an Englewood alley was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

Antonio Pulido Mendez,

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Elizabeth Weishaupl sentenced Antonio Pulido Mendez, 19, of Littleton, on Nov. 9 for the death of Jonah Hirsh, who was 13 years old when he was murdered.

On July 14, 2019, Mendez and three associates met Jonah and his older cousin in the alley. Jonah and the cousin expected to sell drugs to the four. But Mendez and the other three set up the drug deal with the intent to rob Jonah and the cousin.

Mendez shot Jonah in the arm and the chest with a 9 mm handgun. Jonah died at the scene. Mendez shot the cousin in the neck; he survived.

“This defendant made reckless, stupid decisions,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Steers. “He chose to bring a loaded gun to a robbery and pull the trigger. Today he faces the consequences for his actions.”

On Aug. 3, 2021, Mendez pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

Jonah’s family was in court for the sentencing. When the cousin’s frantic 911 call was played, the cousin and Jonah’s mother stepped out of the courtroom.

“The intent was never to buy drugs – it was to rob the victims, who were not armed,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Daniel Warhola said during sentencing. “Jonah was shot through both lungs and his heart. What this defendant did is not allowed, cannot be tolerated and must be punished.”

“What brought us here is a tragedy – poor choices, poor decisions, and now consequences for those,” Judge Weishaupl said. “Jonah deserved the opportunity to learn and grow and engage with the world, and he was never be able to do that.”

Mendez’s accomplices were sentenced previously:

• Marcus Antonio Montez, 19, of Centennial, planned the crime. He had a handgun but never fired it. He pleaded guilty June 17, 2020, to one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. He was sentenced Aug. 10, 2020, to 20 years in prison.
• Jesus Perez Medrano, 21, of Centennial, was the driver. He pleaded guilty June 17, 2020, to one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. He was sentenced Aug. 10, 2020, to 18 years in prison.
• The last defendant was sentenced to seven years in the Youthful Offender System.

Report of May 18, 2021, shooting in Englewood

Review of the fatal shooting of Caleb Grisenti by Englewood Police Officer Stephen Creaghe and EPD Sergeant David LeClair in a parking garage at 1401 E. Girard Place

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Former officer gets jail time in Highlands Ranch assault

A former Englewood police officer was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to sexual contact without consent.

Anna McCain

Anna W. McCain, 24, pleaded guilty to the Class 1 misdemeanor Jan. 17, 2020. Other counts against her were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Douglas County District Court Judge Patricia Herron sentenced McCain via Webex on June 9. After her jail sentence, McCain will serve five years on sex offender intensive supervised probation.

“No agency wants to protect officers who violate our laws. I commend the Englewood Police Department for alerting the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to a possible crime committed by one of their own officers,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “Anyone who vows to uphold the law must be held to that same law. No person is above the law. This makes at least 37 law enforcement officers our office has prosecuted since I was elected.”

On May 10, 2019, Englewood Police notified the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office of a possible sex assault involving parties from EPD.

DCSO deputies responded and interviewed the victim. She told them that on Marcy 14, 2019, she and several friends from the office including McCain went to dinner and a club together. Afterward they went back to her home in Highlands Ranch. McCain was the last to leave. After the others were gone, McCain tried numerous times to initiate sexual contact with the victim. The victim told McCain no and tried to fight her off, but McCain groped and kissed the victim.

The victim finally got McCain to leave. After reflecting on the incident for several weeks, she realized the behavior was an assault, and she confided in a colleague.

McCain has since been terminated from the Englewood Police Department.

10 years for woman who drove stolen car at Englewood officers

A woman who stole a car and tried to drive into Englewood officers as they moved to arrest her was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Chayley Tolin

Arapahoe District Court Judge Darren Vahle sentenced Chayley Tobin, 27, of Sheridan on Jan. 3 after she pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault on a peace officer, a Class 4 felony. Other charges against her were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

“Heads up to those who still don’t get it: If you threaten, attack, or try to hurt our women and men in uniform, you put your health at risk and, in the best case scenario, you will lose you liberty,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “An attack on those who serve and protect is a serious crime and will be vigorously prosecuted. And in this case – as in many – passersby were also put in danger by the criminal conduct.”

On Jan. 16, 2019, Englewood Police officers tried to arrest Tobin, who was a driving a stolen vehicle in the parking garage at Swedish Medical Center. Tolin disobeyed commands to stop and instead tried to hit officers with the car as she attempted to drive away. Two officers fired shots at her and their actions were determined to be legally justified.

Tolin was seriously injured but recovered.

“The defendant decided trying to get away in a stolen car was more important than the life of a police officer and any member of the public who was in the hospital parking garage that day,” said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Martin, who tried the case with Senior Deputy District Attorney Garrik Storgaard. “This lack of regard for the safety of others demonstrated by the defendant’s actions deserved the sentence to the Department of Corrections she received.”

Youth pastor who assaulted kids from church sentenced to 50 years

A former volunteer youth pastor was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in prison for assaulting teenage boys at his apartment in Englewood.

Joseph Potts

Arapahoe District Court Judge Ben Leutwyler sentenced Joseph Potts, 33, to a total of 50 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to two Class 3 felonies: sexual exploitation of a child and first-degree assault. Other counts were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

“There is likely a special place in hell for those who satisfy their lascivious sexual desires under the guise of being a youth pastor,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “We can, at best, protect ourselves from him in this life. His true sentence awaits him in the next.”

The incidents occurred in 2017 when Potts was youth pastor at Jubilee Fellowship Church. Potts befriended the teenagers and invited them to stay overnight at his apartment to play video games. When they got there, Potts had them watch pornography. He then initiated lewd acts with them, which resulted in sexual assaults.

“Mr. Potts is the most dangerous type of criminal. He used a religious position of leadership in order to gain the trust of parents so that he had access to their children. These parents trusted that their children would be safe when alone with the defendant, and he took advantage of that trust in the worst way,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Danielle Jaramillo, who prosecuted the case. “This sentence is due to the bravery and courage of two boys who were willing to come forward and disclose what happened to them. If not for them, Mr. Potts would have done this again to other children. They truly are heroes.”

Potts must register as a sex offender.

Sex offender on parole gets 96 years for multi-state crime spree

A sex offender who was on parole for a drug charge in Georgia and wanted in a robbery in Florida will spend 96 years in a Colorado prison for a crime spree that took him from Denver all the way to New Mexico.

Eric Ray Weston

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Ben Leutwyler sentenced Eric Ray Weston, 37, after he pleaded guilty to six of the 29 counts against him. Other counts were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

“Another convicted felon on parole is able to get his hands on a gun and then uses it to threaten five innocent people, kidnap a sixth, and burglarize a home,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “A system that continues to allow this type of offender back on our streets is one that needs significant improvement. This is why we build prisons.”

On June 23, 2017, two sisters met Weston in Littleton midmorning to purchase a vehicle he had posted on “Let Go.” Weston got in their car with them to go see the sale vehicle. The sisters became uncomfortable, and they told Weston they were no longer interested.

That is when Weston pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them from the back seat. The sisters ran screaming from their car – Weston ran in the other direction.

A nearby man heard the screams and saw Weston running by. He chased Weston down and asked what was going on. Weston pulled out the gun and pointed it at the man’s head. When Weston learned the man did not have car keys, he ran off.

Next Weston entered a parking lot where a woman was sitting in her parked car. He opened her door, pointed his gun at her head and told her to get out. She did. Weston drove off in her car.

Another witness tried to stop the car and Weston pointed the gun at him, too.

All of these victims reported what happened to Littleton Police.

The stolen car was spotted by Englewood Police. Weston eluded officers in a high-speed chase before abandoning the car.

Weston then broke into and hid in a house in Denver near where he left the stolen car. The unsuspecting homeowner came home early and found Weston hiding in his bedroom. Weston held the homeowner at gunpoint for several hours until police activity subsided.

Then Weston took the man’s cell phone and forced him at gunpoint to get in his car and drive him to Albuquerque. Once there, Weston kept the phone but let the man go; he drove back to Denver and reported the kidnapping to law enforcement.

Littleton Police learned Weston boarded a bus in Albuquerque headed to San Bernardino. Littleton worked with law enforcement in California to take Weston into custody.

“Eric Weston is a dangerous predator with no regard for the law. He terrorized victims in Florida and Colorado because he was unwilling to obey the rules of parole in Georgia. His criminal behavior escalated over the course of his life. We count our blessings he did not pull the trigger on June 23, 2017,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro, who prosecuted the case with Senior District Attorney Garrik Storgaard. “Seven different law enforcement agencies across Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and California are to be commended for their collaboration to investigate, track, and apprehend Weston.”

Weston pleaded guilty to:
• Two counts of aggravated robbery, a Class 3 felony;
• Two counts of attempted aggravated robbery, a Class 4 felony;
• Two counts of felony menacing, a Class 5 felony

Sentencing was Oct. 4.

2nd brother pleads guilty in Englewood child pornography case

The second of two brothers arrested on child pornography charges in a filthy home in Englewood that was later condemned is headed to prison on a 32-year sentence.

Daniel Alberts

Daniel Paul Alberts, 67, pleaded guilty last week to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child (two Class 3 felonies and two Class 4 felonies). Arapahoe County District Court Judge Andrew Baum sentenced him to a total of 32 years in the Department of Corrections. Other charges against Alberts were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Both Daniel Alberts and his brother Timothy Alberts had prior convictions for sexual assault on a child from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Consequently, both faced enhanced sentencing on the child pornography charges as habitual sex offenders against children.

“There are those among us who believe child pornography is a victimless crime. It is not. There are those who believe that people like Alberts, who feed their lascivious desires at the expense of childhood innocence, are fixable. They are not,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “This disgusting behavior encourages the horrible victimization of helpless, innocent children to feed an unjustifiable and corrupt habit. People engaging in this behavior, especially at this level, deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison. These men most likely will. We will continue to fight for the powerless and the victimized.”

On April 18, 2018, Englewood police were called to a home in the 3900 block of South Washington Street.

Officers found the home was infested with rats, mice, maggots and insects. A hazardous materials team was called in and a search warrant obtained. Investigators found children’s underwear, diapers, sex toys and numerous sexually explicit images and videos of children on computers in the home. Police collected a huge cache of printed material, photos, VHS tapes, DVDs, and hard drives. The volume was so immense that only selective sampling of the material realistically could be done. The results of that sampling revealed well over a quarter of a million separate pieces of child pornography. The true number is likely far more.

Timothy Alberts, 63, pleaded guilty Dec. 20 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, Class 3 felonies, and was sentenced Feb. 25, 2019, to 22 years in prison.

“The depth of depravity involved here cannot be overstated. Not only did these two men commit heinous sexual assaults of young children in the past, they apparently never turned away from those twisted desires,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro, who prosecuted the case. “The brothers stockpiled well over three decades’ worth of child pornography with no regard for the broader implications of consuming such sick material. As long as there is a market for child pornography, children will continue to be trafficked, exploited, and abused. Anyone who participates in that market and gets caught will be punished.”

Report on Jan. 16, 2019, shooting in Englewood

Review of the shooting of Chayley Tolin by Englewood Police Officers Ryan Kaspar and Sam Ayres in the parking garage of Swedish Medical Center

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Louisiana fugitive guilty of murder in Englewood death

A fugitive from Louisiana has been convicted of murder in the death of a man found in an Englewood pond.

Mikhail Anthony Purpera

An Arapahoe County District Court jury found Mikhail Anthony Purpera, 31, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Patrick Murphy, who was 33 years old.

“Human life is meaningless to this cold-blooded and wanton killer,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “Laws that prohibit this felon from possessing firearms are meaningless to this multiple murderer. Our community, the planet, is better off with this guy behind bars forever. This is why we build prisons.”

Purpera left Louisiana in August 2016 after police in the town of Gonzales sought to arrest him there on two counts of attempted murder.

On Nov. 12, 2016, Englewood police officers arrested Purpera on suspicion of shoplifting. In his possession at the time of his arrest was a loaded .40 caliber handgun.

Tests on the handgun linked it to the shooting death of Wayland Busby, a 54-year-old transient found dead Nov. 5, 2016, in a tent where he was living along the South Platte River in Denver.

The gun also matched spent casings from the scene of the shooting in Louisiana.

When he was arrested, Purpera also had in his possession a health care card and cell phone belonging to Patrick Murphy.

Murphy’s family reported he disappeared in the early morning hours of Nov. 12.

In interviewing witnesses in the Busby death in Denver, detectives learned Purpera had told a witness he killed a man near a pond in Englewood at the northwest corner of South Broadway and U.S. 285.

That area was searched in November, but the pond was iced over and nothing was found.

In February 2017, the pond was drained to clear sediment. As the water level fell, a passerby was able to see a body and reported it to Englewood police. The coroner identified the body as that of Patrick Murphy. He had been shot in the back of the head.

A witness told police Purpera said he killed Busby to steal marijuana from him. Purpera told the witness he killed Murphy a week later because he was “getting a rush off it.”

“This defendant left a trail of victims from Louisiana to Colorado. Using a gun he should never have had because he’s a convicted felon, he brutally killed Patrick Murphy. I’m incredibly grateful to the brave witnesses who came forward and for the jury’s verdict, bringing some measure of justice to Patrick’s family,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney John Kellner, who prosecuted the case.

“Law enforcement officers, scientific experts and brave witnesses from across county and state lines banded together in the quest for justice. The slayings of Patrick Murphy and Wayland Busby were not the first times the defendant pulled a trigger, nor would they have been the last,” said Deputy District attorney Michael Mauro, who prosecuted the case with Kellner. “All who took part in the apprehension, investigation, and prosecution of the defendant should be commended for their steadfast work.”

A Denver jury convicted Purpera in August 2018 of first-degree felony murder in the death of Busby. Purpera was sentenced in November to life in prison without possibility of parole.

The Arapahoe jury convicted Purpera of first-degree felony murder; first degree murder extreme indifference; aggravated robbery; possession of a weapon by a previous offender; possession of a controlled substance; obstructing a police officer; resisting arrest and theft.

Sentencing is set for April 23. The statutorily mandated sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison without possibility of parole.

6 years in prison for driver who hit, killed bicyclist in Englewood

A female Aurora driver who hit and killed an Englewood woman on a bicycle and then fled the scene was sentenced to six years in prison.

Dominique Cain

Arapahoe District Judge Darren Vahle on Wednesday sentenced Dominique Cain, 33, to six years in the Department of Corrections for the death of Nancy Condit, 64.

“This was an extreme act of selfishness. A driver who refused to be bound by the law that demanded she did not drive, refused to be bound by the demands to stop at a red light, plowed into an innocent woman, and then refused to be bound — not only by the law — but by human decency and left the victim she created to suffer in the street,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “This is why we build prisons and why prisons are full. We have too many people in our great state who choose themselves over the law and their fellow citizens. Coloradoans should know that under our weak laws and broken parole system, this killer will likely be back out onto our streets in two years.”

On July 1, 2018, a Sunday afternoon, Cain was driving her 2016 Chevy Cruz in Englewood. She ran a red light and hit Condit in the intersection of South Downing Street and East Cornell Avenue.

Witnesses told Englewood Police that Cain stopped, got out of her car to look at Condit, then drove away.
Condit later died of her injuries.

Witnesses gave officers Cain’s license plate number. She had been adjudicated a habitual traffic offender and her driver’s license was revoked at the time she hit Condit.

Cain pleaded guilty Jan 11, 2019, to the top count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death, a Class 3 felony. Other charges against her were dismissed.

“This defendant did not have a valid license or insurance and drove at recklessly high speeds, all while holding her cell phone. She ran a red light and killed an innocent cyclist who had the right of way. But worst of all, the defendant made the conscious decision to leave the victim for dead. To disrespect the value of human life in favor of self-preservation is unacceptable,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro, who prosecuted the case with Deputy District Attorney Diana Sada. “Nothing can fully repair the damage done, but the sentence in this case signals to the defendant and the community that leaving the scene of a crash — especially one where a victim is injured — will not be tolerated.”

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