Students face charges for having fake bomb at school, sheriff says

Two Highlands Ranch High School students accused of having a fake bomb at school on Thursday are facing charges, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to the school, at 9375 Cresthill Lane, just before noon after workers found a suspicious device attached to the outside of a locker, the sheriff’s office said on social media. Students and staff members were evacuated to Cresthill Middle School.

Bomb technicians found it was a “simulated device” that posed no threat. Detectives identified two students in the case and are recommending charges of possession of a hoax explosive, a felony, and interference with an educational institution, a misdemeanor.

The device was built at the school and not brought in, Douglas County School District spokesperson Paula Hans said.

Students then returned to the building, and classes resumed.

— Katie Langford, The Denver Post

Man given 15 years for fatal drunken-driving crash

A Centennial man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Jan. 13 in a fatal drunken-driving crash in Lakewood in June 2024.

Ilya Slavin, 38, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide involving a DUI, reckless vehicular assault and animal cruelty. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the vehicular homicide charge, three years in prison for the vehicular assault charge and 364 days in jail for the animal cruelty charge. The jail time will run concurrently with his prison sentence. Slavin will be placed on parole for three years after his release.

Slavin was driving a white pickup east on West Colfax Avenue on June 5, when he crashed into a white Audi at the Garrison Street intersection, killing 65-year-old Beth Bargas, according to a Lakewood Police Department news release.

A passenger in the Audi was hospitalized with several injuries.

— Graeme Taskerud, The Denver Post

Deputies suspect woman was mauled by dogs

Costilla County deputies say a woman found dead this year likely was mauled by dogs in an area with “a history of domestic dogs running loose for years, some of which have been feral.”

Deputies wrote in a social media post Thursday that the body discovered Jan. 23 in the Sangre De Cristo Ranches community southeast of Fort Garland has been identified by the El Paso County coroner’s office as that of Cindy Denholm, 68.

— Max Levy, The Denver Post