Marsh gets jail time. The former Western State volleyball player who traveled the country with friends to collect money for her cancer treatments will serve time in jail, for lying about having cancer. According to the Gunnison Country Times, Tausha Marsh was sentenced Monday to spend 36 days in jail and complete 3,000 hours of community service. Marsh convinced her friends to travel the country with her in 2008, but they later became suspicious and turned her over to law enforcement.
Marsh was charged last year with five felonies and one misdemeanor, but as a condition of a plea agreement, Marsh was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. Two were completed and District Court Chief Judge J. Steven Patrick tossed the first one out. The second evaluation showed that Marsh believed that what she did was socially and morally honorable.
In a 2008, Gunnison Country Times article, Marsh explained that she was stricken with bone cancer in 2004, and then three years later was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Marsh finally admitted to Gunnison law enforcement that she’d never been officially diagnosed with cancer, but that she did have an extensive medical history and that that fundraising campaign was launched without her consent.
Marsh’s friends who embarked on a “Why Do I Ride?” journey across the country in her name, Bill Swift and Logan Marlatt, are torn by their friend’s actions. Swift told the paper that she (Marsh) is a “theif, a liar, and a criminal…”
Marsh agreed to plead guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor charge–charitable fraud and second-degree forgery–as part of the plea deal. Marlatt said having the “why” answered, would help her move on from her friend’s lies. Marsh was also sentenced to four years supervised probation, to pay restitution to the victims who have requested payment, to donate $9,000 (the amount equal to what was spent from fundraising) to the American Cancer Society, and to write handwritten letters of apology to each victim and to the Gunnison Country Times. The judge said that he decided on the jail time after questioning how long Swift and Marlatt spent traveling in the country fundraising, saying that, “…sitting in a jail cell is going to be substantially easier than what your friends did.”
I guess if any good came out of this, it’s the fact that she doesn’t have the horrible disease that takes numerous lives every day.
Source: Gunnison Country Times (Posted 6:02a)
The fakeness is spreading. The police officer’s wife told a tragic tale of dying from cancer that elicited sympathy and donations from friends and neighbors, but authorities said Wednesday that it was all a ruse to fund her prescription drug habit. The Denver Post says Ann Crall of Highlands Ranch, raised about $60,000 over four years from her husband’s coworkers, their church, even families of their children’s schoolmates, according to an indictment. The 31-year-old faces six counts of theft, and one count each of charitable fraud and forgery. Her husband, Richard, also believed she had cancer, said John Moore, president of a foundation that donated $2,000 to the family and whose members held pig roasts and other fundraisers for Crall. Richard is not facing any charges.
Crall’s ruse went on for years, with her updating donors about her treatment and cancer, and at one point saying her cancer was at stage IV, which meant it was spreading to other organs in her body, according to the indictment. Her husband applied for financial help with Moore’s Lakewood Police Employees Assistance Foundation, but a department commander told him there was suspicion about whether his wife had cancer.
Officials with the foundation demanded proof, and got it in the form of a letter from a cancer hospital where Ann Crall allegedly was being treated. It was a forgery, according to the indictment.
“Everybody on the (foundation) board was looking at each other and saying, `I’m glad she’s alive and well,’ but here she had some type of cancer that we thought was supposed to be fatal,” Moore said. “You would think somebody would be losing their hair due to chemo or the drugs, loss of weight or something. You know, sick-looking.”
Those who saw her said she appeared healthy. Ann Crall is being held in a Douglas County jail south of Denver on $25,000 bail. She faces charges in Jefferson County, west of Denver, because that’s where most of the money was raised.
Source: Denver Post (Posted 6:01a)
TRIDENT arrest. On August 24, 2010, the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team (TRIDENT) conducted an investigation after receiving information about an individual selling cocaine, marijuana, and prescription medication. As a result, the following individual was arrested and taken into custody by TRIDENT:
Name: Steven Power, 33 years of age
Address: Aurora, Colorado
Charged with:
—Possession of a Schedule II Controlled Substance (Oxycodone), a Class 4 Felony
—Distribution of a Schedule II Controlled Substance (Oxycodone), a Class 3 Felony
—Violation of Restraining Order (for possession of a firearm)
—Failure to Signal as Required for Lane Change, a Traffic Infraction
A Class 3 felony has a range of 2 to 24 years in prison and a $3,000 to $750,000 fine. A Class 4 felony has a range of 1 to12 years in prison and $2,000-$500,000 fine. The suspect was also found to be in possession of a .45 caliber handgun – an action in violation of a judge’s restraining order from a prior case.
TRIDENT is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force funded through Federal, State and Local government funding sources. Anyone with information about drug trafficking in the area is encouraged to call TRIDENT at (970) 945-0744.
Source: Press Release (Posted 5:57a)
U.S. Representative John Salazar (D-CO) spoke to members of the Fort Lewis College, Native American, Durango and La Plata County communities at the College’s Student Union Addition Grand Opening ceremony. The ceremony took place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Union’s new Animas Lounge.
The congressman was present to speak about the legislation, H.R. 5974, that he introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives on August 3, 2010. The legislation would change the way the Native American Tuition Waiver at Fort Lewis College is funded.
Currently, the state of Colorado is responsible for paying the tuition for all Native American students that attend Fort Lewis. If this new legislation passes, the bill states that it would “direct the Secretary of Education to pay to Fort Lewis College in the State of Colorado an amount equal to the tuition charges for Indian students who are not residents of the State of Colorado.” In short, the aim is to divide the cost of the Native American Tuition Waiver, with Colorado paying for resident students and the U.S. Department of Education paying for non-resident students. The goal is to not cut into other Native American funding the federal government provides.
Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Mark Udall (D-CO) introduced companion legislation into the U.S. Senate on August 6, 2010.
Representative Salazar was introduced by his friend, former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Senator Campbell is a longtime supporter of Fort Lewis College, as well as Rep. Salazar’s legislation.
“One of the issues that we’re facing across the entire state of Colorado is state funding of public education,” said Representative Salazar.
Over the last 25 years, Colorado has spent more than $110 million on the Native American Tuition Waiver. This has led some state legislators to challenge the amount that is paid for the waiver. The most recent challenge came in January 2010 when a bill was introduced in the state legislature that would have reduced the funding that Colorado paid to Fort Lewis College for the waiver. The funding reduction bill was withdrawn from consideration.
The justification for Representative Salazar’s legislation is two-fold. First, the cost of the tuition waiver has far surpassed the monetary value of the land in Hesperus, CO, that was given to Colorado in exchange for tuition-free education for Native Americans. The Hesperus land, called the Old Fort Lewis property, is valued today at approximately $19 million, a small amount when compared to the $110 million that Colorado has paid in the last quarter century.
Second, the benefits of educating Native American students reach beyond just the borders of Colorado. In fall 2009, 608 non-resident Native American students attended Fort Lewis College compared to 130 resident students. Upon graduating, many of those non-resident students return to their home states and reservations where they put their education to work. As the benefits of an educated Native American community extend beyond Colorado, so should the cost of offering a tuition-free education to those Native American students.
“One of the things we wanted to do is try to make the feds responsible for the out-of-state tuition portion, $10 million a year,” the congressman explained. “We’ve introduced this legislation. I think it’s time for the federal government to start paying their fair share of tuition.”
The bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives is co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), Rep. Betsey Markey (D-CO), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).
Fort Lewis College and Native American Education Today
Thanks to the Native American Tuition Waiver and the exceptional educational experience offered at Fort Lewis College, the number of Native Americans taking advantage of the waiver has continued to increase over the years. In fall 2009, 738 Native American students attended the College.
A few noteworthy statistics:
- Fort Lewis College confers more bachelor’s degrees upon Native American students than any other bachelor’s degree-granting institution in the country.
- In fall 2009, approximately 20 percent of the Fort Lewis College student body was Native American. Members of over 120 tribes from 44 states were represented in the student body.
- In 2009, Fort Lewis College awarded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees to 95 Native American students. This number represents approximately 10 percent of the total number of STEM degrees awarded to Native American students in the entire United States.
History of the Native American Tuition Waiver at Fort Lewis College
The Native American Tuition Waiver at Fort Lewis College dates back 100 years to an agreement between the federal government and the state of Colorado. The Old Fort Lewis property in Hesperus, CO, was home to a military post and Indian boarding school, both operated by the federal government, until 1910 when the land was offered to Colorado. If Colorado chose to accept the land, the state would need to follow two conditions.
The two conditions, as stated in the 1910 agreement (36 Stat. 273, chapter 140) that officially offered the land, are (1) “…That said lands and buildings shall be held and maintained by the State of Colorado as an institution of learning…” and (2) “…that Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted to such school free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white pupils…”
In short, Colorado would get the land and keep it as an “institution of learning” and Native American students would be offered a tuition-free education and be treated equally with other students.
After choosing to accept the land, Colorado opened an agricultural high school in 1911. Almost two decades later, the high school became a junior college before moving to Durango in 1956 and evolving into a four-year institution. In 1964, the college officially adopted the name of Fort Lewis College.
Source: Press Release (Posted 5:56a)