Larry’s 1980 Bad Decisions

Larry was upfront about his criminal past from the start. Which covers a period from January 1980 thru November 1986. In that period Larry wrote checks to a Denver area fashion designer for clothing which were returned for non-sufficient funds and resulted in Theft charges two to be exact being filed in Denver Colorado. Before Larry was arrested on the theft charges he had borrowed a friends car and drove to Arizona. Larry had been in a youth program in Arizona called VisionQuest until 1979 and was transferred from the Elfrida AZ lodge to the Colorado Springs program after it was discovered Larry had been involved in an intimate relationship with employee Michael De La Rosa for some time. When Larry went to Arizona in 1980 from Denver he visited with VisionQuest including his former counselors Steve & Martha Bloom. The Blooms offered Larry to stay at their home for the few days he was planning to stay in Tucson. During that time Larry had taken some checks belonging to Steve & Martha which he forged Steve’s name to. After leaving Tucson Larry traveled back to Douglas, AZ where he had taken a room at the old Gadsden Hotel for a few days because he had found out Michael De La Rosa was in the Cochise County Jail and because of Larry still having a strong emotional attachment to Michael, he thought he might be able to help. Larry being the resourceful person he was managed to get a visit with Michael under the premise Larry was working with an attorney representing him. The visit was short and Larry left with the task of trying to find a way to help the guy he was still madly in love with to get out of jail. The following day Larry drove to Elfrida which is approximately 45min to an hour out of Douglas to visit the Lodge. While at the Lodge the Cochise Sheriffs dept had arrived and at that time Larry was placed under arrest for forgery of Steve’s checks.

Larry despite informing the Court he did not need or want counsel appointed was appointed advisory counsel by the name of Ruben Teran. It was Larry’s position as it had been his entire life, that he simply inform the Court he is entering a plea of guilty to the charge of forgery because the truth was, Larry did in fact forge Steve Blooms checks. Larry entered a plea of guilty without seeking any so called plea deal, reduced charges or anything else. The Judge sentenced Larry to 4 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Larry’s Arizona Department of Corrections Inmate Identification Number 041868, Cochise County Superior Court Case Number 0010254 Sentence begin Date June 21, 1980, Arizona Department of Corrections Absolute Discharge of Sentence Date September 21, 1984

Inmate ID Card Arizona Dept of Corrections

Larry’s 1980 ADOC Reception Photo

Arizona Department of Corrections Absolute Discharge

After Larry was transferred to Arizona Dept of Corrections he was advised that Denver Colorado had filed a “detainer” with the State of Arizona on theft charges pending in Denver County Colorado. Incarcerated individuals with detainers from other jurisdictions have two options as to how they can address them. First one simply doing nothing and serving their sentence and when the become eligible for Parole or have maxed out their sentence they are held for the jurisdiction having the detainer to pick them up within a determined time set by law. The other is file a notice of desire to be afforded legally mandated speedy trial to resolve the pending case. Larry chose to execute his right to a speedy trial to resolve the charges even though he had no intention of taking the case to trial. Once the formal notice was filed the State of Colorado and the Denver County District Court set court dates where Denver officials made arrangements with Arizona officials for Larry to be picked up and transported to Denver to appear in court. It was Larry’s intent to immediately advise the court at his first appearance of his desire to enter pleas of guilty, but because the Judge had notice something that made him suspect Larry was under medication at the time decided to first ascertain if that was the case. Larry was in fact under medication which had for some reason upon arriving at the Denver County jail been increased in dosage resulting in it affecting Larry more so than normal. After verifying Larry was in fact under the influence of medication the Judge had decided he would not allow a plea to be entered, had directed the Denver County Jail to withhold any medications prior to Larry’s next court date, and after a request from the District Attorney, decided to set a preliminary hearing in order for the court to be able to be assured there was probable cause to justify the two charges of theft.

The Preliminary Hearing was scheduled within a few days at which time Larry did testify to exactly what led up to the theft charges being filed. Larry described in detail how he had met the designer Max, had become aware of Max’ clothing store and ended up visiting the location and purchasing clothing. Larry honestly without even considering trying to make excuses or cast blame on his bank or anyone else, that he paid for his purchases on two separate visits with personal checks that would almost certainly be returned for non-sufficient funds by his bank. Both Max and Larry testified that Larry had left Denver before Max became aware of the checks being returned and before Larry could be notified of it. At that time the Judge agreed to allow Larry to enter his plea of guilty and sentence Larry to 4 years probation, to run concurrent with his Arizona sentence (noting at the request of Probation Dept reps inquiry how Larry’s probation would be supervised) and that the probation would be unsupervised. Denver County District Court Case Number 1981CR365, Date Case Filed August 12, 1980, Date of Offense between March 28 and April 11, 1980. Date of Plea of Guilty 02/24/1981 Sentence Imposed Date March 3, 1981. Larry completed his Arizona sentence and his Denver probation sentence.