A Rain Man acquaintance suicide epidemic.

[Rain Man]

Okay, two cases probably isn't an epidemic, and I really didn't know this guy well, but my wife knew him a bit. He was on some boards she worked with, and I had talked to him before about project stuff.

It's been a very odd situation for this guy. He was a judge in Denver for years, and then got named to be the City attorney. About two weeks after that happened, a laptop disappeared from a City storage area, and the police apparently traced a signal from the stolen computer to his house.

He said that he "bought the computer from a guy in a parking lot", but the story fell apart quickly. So the City suspended him.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_055175615.html

Then they press criminal charges against him for stealing the laptop.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_164134606.html

Then it turns out that he or someone in his office decided to "drop all charges". The City steps in and suspends a woman in the attorney's office, and he gets charged with other types of corruption stuff. The woman resigns or is dismissed or something, and the story keeps changing.

Then it turns out that he had lots of porn on the computer, and the press makes a big deal out of it. Big, big deal, which kind of annoyed me since that shouldn't have been the issue at all. I think part of the "tampering with evidence" was him trying to delete the porn prior to returning the computer.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5585206,00.html

So now he's lost his job and is looking at some prison time. His name and picture have been all over the local paper, including an enormous full front-page photo of him last week that was of a scale that newspapers would normally reserve for the second coming of Jesus.

He had his first hearing on Friday, and then - blammo - kills himself immediately afterward.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news/article/0,1299,DRMN_3_5600100,00.html

Like I said, I didn't know this guy well, but he seemed like a nice fellow and he ran in similar circles as us. My wife and others we knew had a lot of respect for him. It's amazing to me how this thing just kept escalating and escalating. I completely agree with everything the City did, but I'm looking at the guy and thinking, WTF? Given his early excuses, it's hard to believe that he didn't steal the computer, but then he tried to delete the porn and - wham! - criminal charge. I suspect that he panicked and tried to call in some favors to wiggle out of it and - bam! - another criminal charge. By now he's certainly lost his job, most likely will never be a judge again, and might be disbarred or something, and may end up doing some time. So all of a sudden he decides that his life is over other than the heartbeats and shoots himself. It's amazing to me to think that three months ago this guy's life was great, and then it ended up like this.

[Phobia]

You'll be President in no time at all.

[Dunit35]

You'll be President in no time at all.


Rain Man in 08.

I'd vote for him.

[DaFace]

Damn...I hadn't heard the most recent development. And to think it's all over a $1,500 laptop. :shake:

[Smed1065]

I could not vote for a person in Denver.

Sorry but straight up!

[Sam Hall]

This story made the main page at Fark.com.

[Phobia]

I could not vote for a person in Denver.

Sorry but straight up!
Because of a football rivalry? Seriously?

[Smed1065]

I could but I would never admit it.

[unlurking]

Just to clarify a little bit...

Don't blame the city, they farmed the investigation/prosecution out to jeffco, as they should have, in order to mitigate conflict of interest concerns.

Also, the press crucified the hell out of this guy.

IMO, the city 100% clean on all of this.

Personally, I think there is something MUCH bigger that has not gotten out yet. The only reason I can think that he did this would be the type of porn on there.

[Rain Man]

Yeah, I don't blame the City at all, and if anything am kind of impressed that they pushed and did the right thing. This guy wasn't political at all (to my knowledge), so it's not like this was an enemy's chance to hurt him.

I just can't shake this image of this guy making this one stupid move - like DaFace said, a $1,500 laptop - and then just continually trying to stop this snowball that just kept getting bigger and bigger, and the more he tried to stop it the bigger it got.

The press annoyed me a bit with this. I agree that it was definitely a newsworthy story, but seriously, the picture of him on the front page of the paper last week was life-size. It was literally the entire front page of the newspaper, and they chose to cover the porn angle over all of the other more legitimate angles. It was pretty amateur. Of course, his own actions kept blowing the story up, but it was still pretty amateur.

And yeah, I wonder a bit about the type of porn, too.

[DenverChief]

Personally, I think there is something MUCH bigger that has not gotten out yet. The only reason I can think that he did this would be the type of porn on there.


The guys life was over...he would never work anywhere again...lost his Bar license ...his name and picture would always be remembered for this...that is why he offed himself, and I can't say I blame him

[unlurking]

My understanding is that his wife/gf his a very successful attorney as well, so the guy is definitely not hurting for money. Probably collecting a pension form the state as well before he moved to the city (a while back they let employees purchase up to 5 years for 1-3k each which would put him at 20 years).

The guy doesn't strike me as very bright, considering he would steal a laptop in the first place. Also, I think what kind of porn was on the laptop may have led to more serious charges (I've seen it many times at customers unfortunately).

[Rain Man]

The guys life was over...he would never work anywhere again...lost his Bar license ...his name and picture would always be remembered for this...that is why he offed himself, and I can't say I blame him

Granted, his career in Denver was over. But he could lay low for a while and then move to another city. Or for that matter, I bet he could've gotten some sort of legal-related job in Denver. People snicker about these things, but everything blows over at some point. Cripes, O.J. Simpson wanders around and does just fine.

[Otter]

I'm kinda impressed that they were able to trace the stolen laptop. A guy with that kinda brains should know to wipe the hard drive before hooking it up to the internet.

Unless they have embedded hardware tracking devices that I haven't read about yet that is.

Sorry, I'm a geek.

[unlurking]

The guys life was over...he would never work anywhere again...lost his Bar license ...his name and picture would always be remembered for this...that is why he offed himself, and I can't say I blame him
His wife/gf (don't think officially married) of like 10-12 years is making very good dough. He is probably collecting a pension. I don't think this was about money (career).

[unlurking]

I'm kinda impressed that they were able to trace the stolen laptop. A guy with that kinda brains should know to wipe the hard drive before hooking it up to the internet.

Unless they have embedded hardware tracking devices that I haven't read about yet that is.

Sorry, I'm a geek.
It had a software-based lojack.

Kept "calling home" with its IP address and traceroute.

[unlurking]

Granted, his career in Denver was over. But he could lay low for a while and then move to another city. Or for that matter, I bet he could've gotten some sort of legal-related job in Denver. People snicker about these things, but everything blows over at some point. Cripes, O.J. Simpson wanders around and does just fine.
Yep.

I have know a LOT of government employees that have gone to private work, even though they suck at their job, they have customer contacts. My understanding is he was pretty well liked.

[Rain Man]

The guy doesn't strike me as very bright, considering he would steal a laptop in the first place. Also, I think what kind of porn was on the laptop may have led to more serious charges (I've seen it many times at customers unfortunately).


I must admit at shuddering a little bit, because I'm not sure but I think he presided over a lot of child-related cases. Some sort of domestic judge or something. I could be wrong on that, though.

[unlurking]

Family court. I understand he also did a lot of child charity work. I've got a "friend" in the city, but even they are not being told all the details. This is jeffco's case, and they have been pretty tight lipped with the city regarding the investigation.

[DenverChief]

Granted, his career in Denver was over. But he could lay low for a while and then move to another city. Or for that matter, I bet he could've gotten some sort of legal-related job in Denver. People snicker about these things, but everything blows over at some point. Cripes, O.J. Simpson wanders around and does just fine.


IIRC once convicted of a felony you can no longer practice law anywhere...$1500 theft is well over the $500 Misdemeanor/felony line....I dunno what he could have done if his entire life was lawyering/judging

[DenverChief]

Family court. I understand he also did a lot of child charity work. I've got a "friend" in the city, but even they are not being told all the details. This is jeffco's case, and they have been pretty tight lipped with the city regarding the investigation.


That is Jeffco...

[unlurking]

That is Jeffco...
???

Jefferson county is also the city of Denver?

[DenverChief]

???

Jefferson county is also the city of Denver?


:LOL: NO I meant Jeffco has a hard a$$ reputation

[unlurking]

hahahaha

OK, now I understand!!!

Never had any run-ins with JeffCo, thankfully. Mostly state troopers for speeding (or Irapeaho as a kid).

[pr_capone]

Had you let him sleep with your wife he might not have killed himself.... always remember that.

:p

[DenverChief]

hahahaha

OK, now I understand!!!

Never had any run-ins with JeffCo, thankfully. Mostly state troopers for speeding (or Irapeaho as a kid).


Which is why Denver didn't go to Arapahoe, Adams or Douglas...they don't have the same reputation

[ClevelandBronco]

Okay, two cases probably isn't an epidemic, and I really didn't know this guy well, but my wife knew him a bit. He was on some boards she worked with, and I had talked to him before about project stuff.

It's been a very odd situation for this guy. He was a judge in Denver for years, and then got named to be the City attorney. About two weeks after that happened, a laptop disappeared from a City storage area, and the police apparently traced a signal from the stolen computer to his house.

He said that he "bought the computer from a guy in a parking lot", but the story fell apart quickly. So the City suspended him.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_055175615.html

Then they press criminal charges against him for stealing the laptop.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_164134606.html

Then it turns out that he or someone in his office decided to "drop all charges". The City steps in and suspends a woman in the attorney's office, and he gets charged with other types of corruption stuff. The woman resigns or is dismissed or something, and the story keeps changing.

Then it turns out that he had lots of porn on the computer, and the press makes a big deal out of it. Big, big deal, which kind of annoyed me since that shouldn't have been the issue at all. I think part of the "tampering with evidence" was him trying to delete the porn prior to returning the computer.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5585206,00.html

So now he's lost his job and is looking at some prison time. His name and picture have been all over the local paper, including an enormous full front-page photo of him last week that was of a scale that newspapers would normally reserve for the second coming of Jesus.

He had his first hearing on Friday, and then - blammo - kills himself immediately afterward.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news/article/0,1299,DRMN_3_5600100,00.html

Like I said, I didn't know this guy well, but he seemed like a nice fellow and he ran in similar circles as us. My wife and others we knew had a lot of respect for him. It's amazing to me how this thing just kept escalating and escalating. I completely agree with everything the City did, but I'm looking at the guy and thinking, WTF? Given his early excuses, it's hard to believe that he didn't steal the computer, but then he tried to delete the porn and - wham! - criminal charge. I suspect that he panicked and tried to call in some favors to wiggle out of it and - bam! - another criminal charge. By now he's certainly lost his job, most likely will never be a judge again, and might be disbarred or something, and may end up doing some time. So all of a sudden he decides that his life is over other than the heartbeats and shoots himself. It's amazing to me to think that three months ago this guy's life was great, and then it ended up like this.

I've been following the case casually. I wish that a friend had gotten together with him before he got so dirty that decided that he had to off himself.

That's about the best I can wish for the rest of us who are still alive. Know the people around you. Really know them. Maybe you can help save some people from what could happen without you.

[KcMizzou]

I had two coworkers commit suicide within a year. One shot himself in the chest with .22. He was my boss...

The other also shot himself, but I don't know the details.

What's odd, is that they both seemed like normal, happy guys.

[luv]

I had two coworkers commit suicide within a year. One shot himself in the chest with .22. He was my boss...

The other also shot himself, but I don't know the details.

What's odd, is that they both seemed like normal, happy guys.
Just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving. Sorry to hear about that.

[KcMizzou]

Just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving. Sorry to hear about that.I just.... didn't get it.

I wasn't that close to either of them, but I do know the second guy was recently divorced, and was drinking heavily. In my mind, that's to be expected.

There weren't any "warning signs" that that I noticed, with either.

[luv]

I just.... didn't get it.

I wasn't that close to either of them, but I do know the second guy was recently divorced, and was drinking heavily. In my mind, that's to be expected.

There weren't any "warning signs" that that I noticed, with either.
You might not have noticed anything due to being too far removed from their personal lives. That, or sometimes people just don't show warning signs.

[ClevelandBronco]

I just.... didn't get it.

I wasn't that close to either of them, but I do know the second guy was recently divorced, and was drinking heavily. In my mind, that's to be expected.

There weren't any "warning signs" that that I noticed, with either.

Those are warning signs that you did notice.

[big nasty kcnut]

Vote for rain man cause he can make it rain without trying to smack a ho.

[StcChief]

Dumb-ass swap in a new HD for $100. Install OS Office and be done with it, return it

[FAX]

I don't know, Mr. Rain Man. You possess a grasp and understanding of statistics that far eclipses my own meager knowledge, but I have to think that the odds of a person knowing two people who kill themselves within such a brief time frame are pretty darn low.

Frankly, I'm a little concerned.

FAX

[jidar]

I don't know Rain Man well at all but the more I do the more I want to kill myself.
Is it the jealousy? Despair? Or simply understanding that I can never measure up? Who can say?

[DaFace]

I don't know, Mr. Rain Man. You possess a grasp and understanding of statistics that far eclipses my own meager knowledge, but I have to think that the odds of a person knowing two people who kill themselves within such a brief time frame are pretty darn low.

Frankly, I'm a little concerned.

FAX

YOU'RE concerned? Imagine how I must feel with all these supposed "suicides" going on! If I disappear soon, you'll all know why...