Local Colorado newspaper slams thief, 41, who stole HUNDREDS of papers that broke story about police chief’s stepson ‘violently raping 17-year-old’

A Colorado newspaper has targeted a thief behind the mysterious disappearance of hundreds of copies of his newspaper the day he broke a story about the son of the city’s police chief accused of a 17-year-old forcibly raping a year-old girl.

Ouray Police Chief Jeff Wood’s stepson Nate Dieffenderffer, along with co-defendants Gabriel Trujillo and Ashton Whittington, have been charged with raping a girl in the family’s home while the officer slept.

The Ouray Plain Dealer was the first outlet to report the arrest. But on the same day the story broke, hundreds of copies of the newspaper were stolen from across the city.

Paul Choate, 41, was named as the thief by the Ouray County Sheriff’s Office on Monday after turning himself in to police.

In a statement released Monday, the newspaper said the man had harbored a “grudge” against the publication for some time — and because he did not apologize for his actions, they decided to press charges.

Choate was criticized by journalists for trying to suppress “the public’s right to know and the freedom of the press.”

The statement read: “We understand that the person who took the newspapers was upset about the story of the assault that allegedly occurred at the home of the Ouray Police Chief.

“We want to be transparent with you about how and why we reported this story, even if you disagree with our decision to do so.”

Choate told the newspaper he did what he did to protect the victim in the case. But he also criticized other stories about local issues.

The paper said, “Simply put, Paul Choate had a grudge against the Plaindealer before we wrote this story.

“And when we talked to him about the newspaper theft, he alternated between saying he was sorry and lashing out at us for doing our job. We considered not including his name for fear of further harm to those involved in the case.

“But Paul Choate removed that option when he called the largest TV station in Colorado and confessed, and a journalist at that station announced that he had contacted them and that they would report the name after he was quoted.

“Paul Choate’s decision to steal the newspapers has created a situation where he has caused even more damage.

“If Paul Choate had been truly apologetic, we wouldn’t have filed charges. The fact remains: He was trying to prevent others from reading a story about a serious crime reported in Ouray County.

“It backfired, and now that story has spread much further than it would have had he not tried to suppress the public’s right to know and the freedom of the press.”

Choate was issued a citation for petit larceny on Jan. 20, and “is not a member or relative of local law enforcement and has no association with the defendants in the recently reported assault,” the sheriff’s department said.

On Thursday morning, the papers were removed from across the city.

Initially, the newspaper believed it was being silenced in an attempt to suppress the story.

“If you were hoping to silence or intimidate us, you have failed miserably. We’ll find out who did this. And another round of press is in the pipeline,” co-publisher Mike Wiggins wrote on X.

However, Choate revealed on Sunday that he was the perpetrator in a Facebook post.

“I want the public to know that I was the perpetrator of the Ouray Plain dealer theft,” Choate wrote on his account.

“I turned myself in at the sheriff’s office and returned the papers to the Plaindealer.

He added: ‘I have offered to pay for the damage I have caused.’

In a subsequent post on Monday, Choate explained that “I heard on the evening of January 18th that an article was being released the next morning.”

‘My motivation behind this is to bring to light that details should not be placed in victims’ statements and interviews without their consent.

‘In particular, I was shocked by the graphic details reported; I would never want this information to come out about someone I cherish.

“It was irresponsible to publish this without the victim’s consent and without links to sources.”

He added: “I would like to emphasize that the first article published in the January 4 to 10 edition of the newspaper provided sufficient and well-written information about the case without delving into explicit details and re-victimizing the girl involved to make.’

The newspaper report detailed allegations of sexual assault, included in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s affidavit for arrests in the case.

The 17-year-old accuser told investigators she screamed and fought as she was raped at least three times by two different people in a bedroom and bathroom on May 14, 2023.

At the time of the alleged attack, Wittington had just turned 18 and they were celebrating his birthday, while Trujillo was 19 and Dieffenderffer was still a few days away from his 18th birthday.

The prosecutor described joining the three Dieffenderffer men at their home and drinking some hard seltzer and gin before passing out on a bed in the house.

She said she woke up to find her clothes taken off and Dieffenderffer lying on top of her, having sex with her. She said she tried to fight back but was stopped.

She said one of the male suspects laughed, but another sat in a chair and looked “shocked” but could not help her.

The accuser then said she was taken down the hall to a bathroom and raped by two different people.

“I remember really trying to scream so that someone would hear me and screaming because it was so painful,” she told investigators.

She said she passed out and chipped a tooth on the bathroom floor while she held her head down.

The prosecutor said that when she regained consciousness, she fled the house around 4:30 a.m. but could not find her clothes and grabbed a sweatshirt from a pile of laundry.

The sweatshirt was later identified as belonging to Police Chief Wood, who has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing in the case.

After contacting a friend, the complainant went to the hospital the same day for a sexual assault examination, during which evidence was collected.

An Ouray County Sheriff’s Office investigator made an initial report at the hospital, but the case was later referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, presumably to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Investigators say DNA evidence from a vaginal swab matched Trujillo, and Dieffenderffer matched genetic material recovered from a bite mark.

Trujillo spoke with investigators and said he and Dieffenderffer had a consensual sexual relationship beforehand, according to the affidavit.

Claiming he was merely a “witness” to the events of May 14, he said Dieffenderffer and the accuser went to the restroom and came out fully clothed 10 minutes later “and everything seemed fine.”

He further called the teenage girl a “pathological liar” and someone who seeks attention, the report said.