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Last night I spent the evening in Arapahoe County Jail, and I thought I'd tell you about my experience.
I am technically still under investigation, so I have been advised to not tell anybody about any part about the investigation, including my side of the story and the accuser's side of the story. So you won't get that today. However, I am confident that the investigation will close quickly and then I can tell you. What I can tell you about it is that I was arrested at about 8:30pm on Sunday evening and charged with 2nd degree kidnapping (aka attempted child abduction), which is a felony. I do, of course, deny all allegations.
I was stopped by police on the side of the street where I was walking about 15 minutes after the "incident." We talked for quite a long time.. 45 minutes I'd say. I knew that I was suspected of attempted kidnapping shortly after they stopped me, but since I didn't do anything remotely like that, and because I've been stopped for doing nothing before, I was quite comfortable speaking to the police and thought that they would let me go after determining that nothing had happened. Well, unfortunately, they determined that I needed to be arrested. So I was taken down to the Englewood City Police Station in handcuffs. I was more annoyed now, but because this was going to take a few hours to resolve instead of a few minutes. So they sat me down in a little room that smelled like balls and started to take down some information for paperwork purposes. That took a bit, then I was taken to a jail cell to wait for a detective to arrive, which I was told could be a few hours. It was about 90 minutes before I was let out of the cell to speak to the detective. I had asked for something to read, and the officer told me that he'd find something for me, but he never came back. Hmmmm... Anyway, I was a little worried, but still pretty confident that after I spoke to the detective he would see that this was all just a load of baloney and let me go. Didn't exactly work out that way. It's hard to read detectives, as it should be, but I got the impression that he didn't believe me, and some of the things that he told me made me change my position as a victim of a grotesque misunderstanding to a victim of lies. Anyway, he informed me that I would be taken to Arapahoe County Jail while the investigation was underway. Well ****. So I was sent back to my cell, where I waited for a very long time. Probably another hour and a half. That's most of what happened the whole time, by the way, waiting. I was finally taken out, put back in the smelly ball room, and some more of my information was taken down. After that I for to wait again. Probably at least for 45 minutes. Finally I was ready to be transported. It almost came as a relief that I wouldn't be having to wait around any more.
So I got into the car with the officer. We talked a lot on the way there. It was a 20 minute or so drive, so the handcuffs were really hurting by the end of it. I asked him if he knew my bond while we were driving, and he said that it was $50,000. Fuuuuuuck. First things first, I was all registered with the jail. All of my things and clothes were taken and I got to wear one of those fancy-schmnsy stereotypical orange suits. After that I was sent to a holding cell with a cell mate. We were in there for about an hour and we talked a lot too. He was in for driving without a licence with habitual driving offenses. After all of that we were officially processed. Fingerprints, mugshots.. the works. Then we were sent to a second holding cell. This one, believe it or not, was actually a relief compared to my previous cells because it had a TV. It was quite large and held 9 people. After my cell mate and I got in, 7 of the beds were occupied, and I got the best bunk right next to the TV. It was about 4:30AM by this time so I was really tired, but I was in jail so there was no sleep. We were in there until about 6:30AM. "Breakfast" was served at 5:30, which consisted of a small cup of tea, a sac of lettuce, something that I can only assume was a bread substitute, baloney salad (baloney, mayonnaise, and celery), and a cookie, which was actually not bad. The rest of the stuff was garbage, but I needed to eat. At 6:30, Scott and I were sent to a different room called the POD, which was awful. It was rather large and empty except for an aluminum bench that lined the room. There was a bathroom connected to it as well. It was just Vincent and I in there until 7:30, when they started sending more people in. I bet there were 60 people in there at one point. The room was large, but 60 people was very tight nevertheless. About an hour later, they started to bring people out. I guess I should have mentioned before that this room was meant as a temporary holding chamber for people attending court that day. My court was scheduled for 9:30, and it would be to discuss my bond. No clocks could be seen from the tiny plastic window on the door, so telling time was very hard. Every time I heard the jingling of a cop outside, I was hoping that they would open out cell, and every time they did, I hope they would call my name. Eventually my time did come at about 9:15, so very timely. At that point I was shackled up in ankle cuffs and the handcuffs that go around your waist. I really looked a prisoner. It was a very long walk to the court, so those ankle cuffs really started to hurt.
I was sat down along with about 10 other inmates and the district attorney came by and spoke to use one by one and briefly explained what she thought she could do for us and gave us a packet that needed to be read and signed. Inside was my police report, a copy of my rights, my restraining order, and some other stuff. Unfortunately, I was informed that my 50k bond was not negotiable on this day because my particular allegation required the "victims" to approve of a bond set that was not the bond set by the police station. Kind of ridiculous in my opinion, regardless of my situation. So when it was my time to approach the podium, all I did was answer yes to the questions that I read and signed the paper stating my rights, and was reinformed that my bond would not be able to be discussed until my next court date, Thursday. I should also mention that during previous jail phone calls, I was able to wrangle my father, my mother, and my uncle into joining me in court. I told my mom to get my uncle to go because he was a sergeant at the Greenwood Village Police Department, which is inside the jurisdiction of Arapahoe County, and he might be able to help.
After court we were sent back to the pod, where I sat and waited for 6 hours. Ugh, what a misery. I was one of the last ones to get let out. Not much to report, really. I was served "lunch" while I was in there, which was very similar to the first meal. There was orange juice instead of tea and my baloney salad had turned to just slices. I didn't eat the "bread" this time around, but found at least some enjoyment out of the cookie. Unfortunately, will all of the waiting involved, there was too much time to think and worry about all of the things that could go wrong and lead me to be in jail for days, weeks, months or years as an innocent man.
I was led back to my holding cell, finally. I sat by the window and door and waited for an officer to come by and open up because I really wanted to use the phone to call my mom and see what had happened after court. So an officer finally approached and opened up, and I immediately began to ask him something when he stopped me and said "Hold on, what's your name. Do you have a badge?" So I pulled my badge out and he told me to follow him. He had me sit down and started to do paper work. I could only assume that I was being sent to general population cells, which could only be bad. After a few minutes he said "Now, do you need a bus pass or a call for a ride?" I said "What?" He told me to come up and told me that I was being released. So I started to cry. I assumed that my parents had bailed me out. But no, I was being released because the detectives determined that there wasn't enough evidence present. So I cried more when I found out that I wouldn't have to go back to court or anything. My dad came and picked me up, but not before I was sent to one final cell, the "releasing cell." Why they have this, I'll probably never know, but I was just too happy to be out. I was charged 30 dollars as a "booking fee," 8 of which was taken out of my wallet.. I only had 8 dollars on me when I was arrested.
So yeah. I came home and slept for 15 hours. Good stuff. Helluva time.
I am technically still under investigation, so I have been advised to not tell anybody about any part about the investigation, including my side of the story and the accuser's side of the story. So you won't get that today. However, I am confident that the investigation will close quickly and then I can tell you. What I can tell you about it is that I was arrested at about 8:30pm on Sunday evening and charged with 2nd degree kidnapping (aka attempted child abduction), which is a felony. I do, of course, deny all allegations.
I was stopped by police on the side of the street where I was walking about 15 minutes after the "incident." We talked for quite a long time.. 45 minutes I'd say. I knew that I was suspected of attempted kidnapping shortly after they stopped me, but since I didn't do anything remotely like that, and because I've been stopped for doing nothing before, I was quite comfortable speaking to the police and thought that they would let me go after determining that nothing had happened. Well, unfortunately, they determined that I needed to be arrested. So I was taken down to the Englewood City Police Station in handcuffs. I was more annoyed now, but because this was going to take a few hours to resolve instead of a few minutes. So they sat me down in a little room that smelled like balls and started to take down some information for paperwork purposes. That took a bit, then I was taken to a jail cell to wait for a detective to arrive, which I was told could be a few hours. It was about 90 minutes before I was let out of the cell to speak to the detective. I had asked for something to read, and the officer told me that he'd find something for me, but he never came back. Hmmmm... Anyway, I was a little worried, but still pretty confident that after I spoke to the detective he would see that this was all just a load of baloney and let me go. Didn't exactly work out that way. It's hard to read detectives, as it should be, but I got the impression that he didn't believe me, and some of the things that he told me made me change my position as a victim of a grotesque misunderstanding to a victim of lies. Anyway, he informed me that I would be taken to Arapahoe County Jail while the investigation was underway. Well ****. So I was sent back to my cell, where I waited for a very long time. Probably another hour and a half. That's most of what happened the whole time, by the way, waiting. I was finally taken out, put back in the smelly ball room, and some more of my information was taken down. After that I for to wait again. Probably at least for 45 minutes. Finally I was ready to be transported. It almost came as a relief that I wouldn't be having to wait around any more.
So I got into the car with the officer. We talked a lot on the way there. It was a 20 minute or so drive, so the handcuffs were really hurting by the end of it. I asked him if he knew my bond while we were driving, and he said that it was $50,000. Fuuuuuuck. First things first, I was all registered with the jail. All of my things and clothes were taken and I got to wear one of those fancy-schmnsy stereotypical orange suits. After that I was sent to a holding cell with a cell mate. We were in there for about an hour and we talked a lot too. He was in for driving without a licence with habitual driving offenses. After all of that we were officially processed. Fingerprints, mugshots.. the works. Then we were sent to a second holding cell. This one, believe it or not, was actually a relief compared to my previous cells because it had a TV. It was quite large and held 9 people. After my cell mate and I got in, 7 of the beds were occupied, and I got the best bunk right next to the TV. It was about 4:30AM by this time so I was really tired, but I was in jail so there was no sleep. We were in there until about 6:30AM. "Breakfast" was served at 5:30, which consisted of a small cup of tea, a sac of lettuce, something that I can only assume was a bread substitute, baloney salad (baloney, mayonnaise, and celery), and a cookie, which was actually not bad. The rest of the stuff was garbage, but I needed to eat. At 6:30, Scott and I were sent to a different room called the POD, which was awful. It was rather large and empty except for an aluminum bench that lined the room. There was a bathroom connected to it as well. It was just Vincent and I in there until 7:30, when they started sending more people in. I bet there were 60 people in there at one point. The room was large, but 60 people was very tight nevertheless. About an hour later, they started to bring people out. I guess I should have mentioned before that this room was meant as a temporary holding chamber for people attending court that day. My court was scheduled for 9:30, and it would be to discuss my bond. No clocks could be seen from the tiny plastic window on the door, so telling time was very hard. Every time I heard the jingling of a cop outside, I was hoping that they would open out cell, and every time they did, I hope they would call my name. Eventually my time did come at about 9:15, so very timely. At that point I was shackled up in ankle cuffs and the handcuffs that go around your waist. I really looked a prisoner. It was a very long walk to the court, so those ankle cuffs really started to hurt.
I was sat down along with about 10 other inmates and the district attorney came by and spoke to use one by one and briefly explained what she thought she could do for us and gave us a packet that needed to be read and signed. Inside was my police report, a copy of my rights, my restraining order, and some other stuff. Unfortunately, I was informed that my 50k bond was not negotiable on this day because my particular allegation required the "victims" to approve of a bond set that was not the bond set by the police station. Kind of ridiculous in my opinion, regardless of my situation. So when it was my time to approach the podium, all I did was answer yes to the questions that I read and signed the paper stating my rights, and was reinformed that my bond would not be able to be discussed until my next court date, Thursday. I should also mention that during previous jail phone calls, I was able to wrangle my father, my mother, and my uncle into joining me in court. I told my mom to get my uncle to go because he was a sergeant at the Greenwood Village Police Department, which is inside the jurisdiction of Arapahoe County, and he might be able to help.
After court we were sent back to the pod, where I sat and waited for 6 hours. Ugh, what a misery. I was one of the last ones to get let out. Not much to report, really. I was served "lunch" while I was in there, which was very similar to the first meal. There was orange juice instead of tea and my baloney salad had turned to just slices. I didn't eat the "bread" this time around, but found at least some enjoyment out of the cookie. Unfortunately, will all of the waiting involved, there was too much time to think and worry about all of the things that could go wrong and lead me to be in jail for days, weeks, months or years as an innocent man.
I was led back to my holding cell, finally. I sat by the window and door and waited for an officer to come by and open up because I really wanted to use the phone to call my mom and see what had happened after court. So an officer finally approached and opened up, and I immediately began to ask him something when he stopped me and said "Hold on, what's your name. Do you have a badge?" So I pulled my badge out and he told me to follow him. He had me sit down and started to do paper work. I could only assume that I was being sent to general population cells, which could only be bad. After a few minutes he said "Now, do you need a bus pass or a call for a ride?" I said "What?" He told me to come up and told me that I was being released. So I started to cry. I assumed that my parents had bailed me out. But no, I was being released because the detectives determined that there wasn't enough evidence present. So I cried more when I found out that I wouldn't have to go back to court or anything. My dad came and picked me up, but not before I was sent to one final cell, the "releasing cell." Why they have this, I'll probably never know, but I was just too happy to be out. I was charged 30 dollars as a "booking fee," 8 of which was taken out of my wallet.. I only had 8 dollars on me when I was arrested.
So yeah. I came home and slept for 15 hours. Good stuff. Helluva time.
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