1-Color
March 14, 2014
75 cents Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 94, Issue 4 A publication of
englewoodherald.net
Local man charged with child pornography Federal court orders suspect to remain in custody By Tom Munds
tmunds@ coloradocommunitymedia.com Englewood resident Mervin Wolf, 61, was arrested at his South Galapago Street home this past week for charges related to child pornography. Wolf is being charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and with production of child pornography.
On March 11, six days after the arrest, Federal Magistrate Michael Hegarty ruled that Wolf would remain in custody until, at the very least, the conclusion of his trial. Jeffrey Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, said the case will go before a grand jury within 30 days in closed court. Wolf and his wife moved to Colorado from California about 1999 and each year, they regularly returned to California for about two weeks to visit relatives. According to the arrest affidavit, around September 2007 Wolf allegedly began taking pornographic photographs of a child who
lived with his California relatives. The report stated that, over the next seven years, Wolf “forced the minor child to perform and participate in an escalating pattern of sexual acts which Wolf would photo or video tape.” According to the Justice Department, relatives and Wolf’s wife were unaware of the man’s alleged pornographic activities. In his March 11 court appearance, Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Smith said Wolf admitted sexual contact with the girl that he photographed and recorded on video. The prosecutor said the suspect told investigators he made the tapes for his sex-
ual gratification and watched them about once a week for the same reason. The affidavit stated that, when the victim learned in January that Wolf was coming to California in June, she made the decision to report the sexual abuse. It was also stated the girl said she was afraid Wolf would start molesting her younger siblings. Once the girl’s family learned about the sexual abuse of the victim, other family members also came forward to report sexual abuse by Wolf. Child continues on Page 18
Council amends proposal Five amendments approved to home occupation ordinance By Tom Munds
tmunds@ coloradocommunitymedia.com
An excavator brings down parts of a wall and ceiling at the old Englewood High School building. Except for the field house and auditorium, all of the old high school buildings are being demolished so a new seventh- through 12th-grade campus can be built on the site. Photo by Tom Munds
High school demolition resumes Crews expect to be done by April 1 By Tom Munds
tmunds@ coloradocommunitymedia.com After a two-week break to remove asbestos, operators are again guiding their powerful excavators with the intent of demolishing the remaining buildings that for years made up Englewood High School. Demolition of the main high school building is part of phase 2 of the project, which calls for removal of all the high school structures except the field house and auditorium — making way for a new seventh- through 12-grade campus on the
site. Once all the asbestos was removed, the crash of falling debris again echoed off the field house walls March 6 as the massive equipment pulled down the upper story of the building facing Mansfield Avenue. The work on the structure north of Mansfield Avenue went on during the final phase of asbestos removal. “I watched the work when they began taking down the high school building where it attached to the field house,” said school superintendent Brian Ewert, adding that demolition should be complete by April 1. “They were very careful to make sure they didn’t impact the field house walls. They will do the same type of delicate operation when they remove the school building that attached to the auditorium later
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this month.” On site, the demolition of the two-story portion of the high school building facing Mansfield Avenue moved west. Plans are to begin demolishing the portion of the high school building facing South Logan Street by mid-March. “Around April 1, crews will begin constructing the foundation system for the new high school building,” Ewert said. “The foundation work will be very visible, but a lot of work will be going on out of the view of the public.” The construction of the new campus is possible because Englewood residents approved a $40 million bond issue in 2012. Phase one demolished the pool, shops and other portions of the high school. Also included were the construction of the new north gymnasium and the wing of the campus that will eventually house the middle school. The high school classrooms were moved into the newly constructed wing over the Thanksgiving holiday last year. A second part of the project involves the major renovation of Englewood Middle School. Early next year, the buildings at 300 W. Chenango Ave. will become Colorado’s Finest Alternative High School when the middle school moves to the new campus. The project is funded by bond money plus an $8 million state grant.
The city council’s process establishing the city rules governing working at home has been continued — at least until March 17. The Englewood City Council pushed back the adoption of the new rules on March 3 when they considered the ordinance on second and final reading and adopted five additional amendments to the ordinance. Since the amendments make significant changes to the ordinance, procedure requires the council hold another second and final reading of the regulations. The second and final reading is tentatively scheduled to be part of the March 17 city council meeting. At the March 3 meeting, Mayor Randy Penn went through a series of changes previously discussed. Council members then made the five new amendments to the ordinance, adopting each on a separate vote. The amendments included: • Making the type of home occupations allowed in the R1A zones residential district the same as those allowed in all other residential districts. It was approved unanimously. • Allowing commercial delivery services to make deliveries in the R1A district passed 4 to 3 with councilmembers Jill Wilson and Joe Jefferson along with Mayor pro tem Linda Olson opposing the amendment. • Allowing the use of detached structures for storage of home occupation materials. The amendment was approved 6-1 with Olson voting against it. • Eliminating the wording that prohibits business owners from seeing customers in homes within the R1A district. It passed 6 to 1 with councilmember Bob McCaslin voting against it. • Reversing the ban on home occupations having employees. The new rule would allow a resident to have one employee for his or her home business. The amendment passed 5-2 with Jefferson and Olson voting against it. The issue of changing the work-athome regulations began in May 2013 when the city council requested staff to work on the issue. A part of the issue was the ban on residents doing any work from homes within Council continues on Page 11