Drunken Man Used Taser to Assault Grandmother and Great Aunt in Their Home
Longmont, CO. January 30, 2014
Longmont man, 21, gets three years for felony use of stun gun against grandmother, great aunt
When Alec Arapahoe completes state prison time, he will serve federal time in auto theft.
A Boulder District judge on Thursday sentenced a 21-year-old Longmont man to three years in prison in a case in which he admitted to using a Taser in an assault on his grandmother and great aunt in January 2013.
Boulder District judge Andrew McDonald told Alec Arapahoe that prison was the only sentencing option on the table because he had clearly rejected any sentencing option that would include treatment or rehabilitation. Arapahoe last year accepted a plea deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to felony use of a stun gun and misdemeanor assault. The move spared him a trial on more serious charges.
“As I look at the facts of this case, again, it is really clear you are hurting the people who help you the most,” the judge told him, after listening to Arapahoe’s grandmother speak on her grandson’s behalf.
The judge also noted that a shorter sentence than the maximum allowed for the charge was not on the table because he proved himself to be a “horrible” inmate at the county jail who did not avail himself of voluntary programs and was disciplined repeatedly.
According to police reports, Arapahoe visited his grandmother and great aunt on the 2200 block of Pratt Street last January and got into an argument with them because he was intoxicated and had a stun gun with him. His great aunt asked him to relinquish the Taser and the request angered him. Police reported Arapahoe began yelling and grabbing at the women as they tried to leave the apartment. Arapahoe’s grandmother tried to call police, but he reportedly took the phone from her.
At one point, police reported, he fired the Taser at his grandmother and the probes hit the wall behind her. He then pointed the Taser at both women. The women told police that Arapahoe’s grandmother tried to run from the apartment to call police when he was briefly distracted, but Arapahoe pressed the Taser into her back and shocked her.
Prosecutor Ryan Brackley argued for the maximum sentence and said that Arapahoe, who he said was recorded in jail phone calls using threatening and abusive language with his grandmother and others, was a genuine safety threat to those close to him and the community.
Defense attorney Steve Louth argued for a more lenient sentence, noting that Arapahoe suffered a childhood in unstable homes with alcoholic parents before extended family in Longmont took him in. He acted out as a juvenile and started to get in legal trouble then, the attorney said.
The judge gave Arapahoe credit for 390 days time served pre-trial and also sentenced him to two years mandatory parole. He noted, though, that after his stint in state prison, Arapahoe will be released to federal authorities to serve a nine-month sentence for auto theft. The case was federal because he crossed state lines with the stolen vehicle.
Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or at pshields@times-call.com.
