Remember last week when I posted the story of Aspen Colorado sending a homeless criminal to North Dakota...well it seems that the prophesy was fulfilled.
THANKS ASPEN!!!======================================================
Published on Aspen Daily News Online (http://www.aspendailynews.com)
Writer: Carolyn Sackariason
A former Aspen homeless man in trouble with the law here who was given a free bus ticket to North Dakota last week remained in jail in Williston, N.D. on Tuesday, held on a disorderly conduct charge.
Jimmy Baldwin Jr., 32, was arrested on Friday at about 7 p.m. after he allegedly urinated on the front of Whispers strip club in Williston. Baldwin, who was shirtless, was arrested for disorderly conduct and given no trespass warnings for that strip club, as well as another one called Heartbreakers, according to a report filed by the Williston Police Department.
He told officers that his hand was swelling up and claimed his foot was hurt, and wanted to go to the emergency room, according to the police report. He was cited and released on a personal recognizance bond.
Shortly after that incident, an employee at a funeral home called Williston police saying that he came upon Baldwin outside of the business, asking for an ambulance. Baldwin was brought to Mercy Medical Center where he refused treatment and was being disorderly in the ER, according to Williston police. He was transported to the Williams County jail and booked on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
Baldwin was given a free bus ticket through the Aspen Homeless Shelter, paid for by an anonymous donor, on Dec. 19, one day after he was arrested for disorderly conduct, menacing and possession of marijuana after allegedly causing a disturbance at the fire pit on the Cooper Avenue mall.
He was issued a summons and his first court appearance for those charges is scheduled for Jan. 17. Deputy District Attorney Richard Nedlin, who is prosecuting Baldwin in county court, said the misdemeanor charges will not be dismissed.
If Baldwin fails to appear in court, a judge will determine what his bond should be set at and will issue a warrant for his arrest. However, it would be an in-state warrant, meaning if Baldwin is arrested outside of Colorado, authorities will not be notified of his pending charges in Aspen, Nedlin said.
Baldwin has been cited numerous times by Aspen police, mostly for minor infractions like trespassing, disorderly conduct and drinking in public. Jim True, prosecutor for the city of Aspen, last Wednesday agreed to a 30-day continuance for Baldwin’s trial, which was scheduled for Dec. 21 after he pleaded not guilty to a trespassing count.
True said he plans to continue the case indefinitely.
“If he’s in town, he needs to show up [to municipal court],” he said. “If he’s not in town, I will continue it for another month. ... Right now, I’m just going to play it by ear.”
True said that Baldwin told him he had a friend in North Dakota who had a job for him in the oil fields but had no way of getting there.
Shortly after, Aspen Homeless Shelter director Dr. Vince Savage offered Baldwin a one-way ticket to the city of Williston, in northwestern North Dakota near the state’s “oil patch.” He has since defended the action, saying Baldwin wasn’t forced to leave Aspen and that he wanted to go there to try to start a new life.
Regardless, the move set off a deluge of outraged people in North Dakota decrying that Aspen is using their state as a dumping ground for unwanted citizens. They also point out that the state is suffering from an acute housing shortage in the oil-producing region. Since the Aspen Daily News first reported Baldwin’s relocation on Dec. 21, the newspaper has received at least 70 letters to the editor from angry North Dakotans.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/150950
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