Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- January 18, 2024
- Targets
- Ouray County Plaindealer
More than 200 copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer were stolen after it reported on allegations of a sexual assault.
Man fined for stealing copies of Colorado newspaper
The Colorado man who stole more than 200 copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer newspaper was fined $150 by the Ouray County Court on Feb. 15, 2024, a court clerk confirmed via email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Almost all of the Plaindealer’s racks in the towns of Ouray and Ridgway were cleaned out in January after the paper published a story detailing an alleged rape at the home of a local police chief. The paper’s co-publisher and author of the story, Erin McIntyre initially assumed the theft had been intended to protect the three arrested suspects, who were named in the story.
County resident Paul Choate later confessed on Facebook that he had stolen the newspapers, claiming that he was protesting the publication of details from the accuser’s statements without her consent. McIntyre told the Tracker that she had communicated via a third party with the accuser, who had not been briefed on all of the details that would appear in the published story.
Choate was initially charged with petty theft, but the district attorney downgraded the charge to interference with lawful distribution of newspapers, the Ouray County Court clerk told the Tracker. Choate pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a $150 fine plus court costs.
In an article on the sentencing hearing, the Plaindealer reported that Choate has offered a series of different explanations for his actions. According to the paper, he has accused it of trying to profit off the allegations, expressed concern that the story was placed more prominently on the front page than an article about a local winter recreation event, and said that the theft was “my way of boycotting” the paper for past, allegedly inaccurate coverage.
More than 200 copies of a weekly Colorado newspaper, the Ouray County Plaindealer, were stolen, and then returned, on Jan. 18, 2024, after it published a story detailing an alleged rape that occurred inside the home of a local police chief.
“All of our newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were hit by a thief who stole all the newspapers,” Erin McIntyre, co-publisher of the Plaindealer and author of the story, wrote in a statement displayed above the paper’s Jan. 18 e-edition. “It’s pretty clear that someone didn’t want the community to read the news this week.”
The story discussed details of the allegations, including about the three arrested suspects, one of whom is the stepson of the Ouray Police chief.
In the wake of the theft, residents raised over $1,000 to fund any loss in revenue the paper experienced, a portion of which has been donated to a local sexual assault support and advocacy organization.
But in what McIntyre told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was a “bizarre twist,” a county resident later confessed to the theft and said that he was trying to protect the accuser, not the defendants.
“I want to make it clear my intentions were completely opposite of what has been portrayed in the media,” Paul Choate wrote on his personal Facebook page. “My motivation behind this is to bring to light that no details in any victims statements and interviews should be posted without their consent.”
Choate added, “I realize this [stealing the newspapers] was not the appropriate response.” Upon returning the stolen papers, he says he offered compensation for any revenue the Plaindealer lost as a result.
According to McIntyre, Choate has been issued a court summons for 12 counts of petty theft, one for each newspaper rack he stole from, and may have to pay a $1,200 fine.
The Plaindealer staff is now reconsidering how the story was reported, McIntyre said, explaining that she was communicating with the accuser via a third party, but that the details of the story were never successfully conveyed to the accuser. In a Jan. 25 editorial, the Plaindealer apologized to the victim for any harm caused by its reporting.
“She is pretty angry, and I understand why,” McIntyre told the Tracker. “From now on, I will only communicate directly with her.”
McIntyre added: “We have a duty to report on the serious crimes in this community, even if it’s ugly or horrifying. But we’re also tasked with reporting on it with some sort of sensitivity to the victim or other past victims who may be reading the story. … We’re trying to find that balance.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
