For Immediate Release
Friday, October 30, 2015
Contact: Michelle Yi, Director of Communications
Direct: 720-874-8556
Cell: 720-541-4675
Email: myi@da18.state.co.us
Bad Drug Deal, Kidnapped Victims Lead to 76 Years in DOC
CASTLE ROCK – This afternoon, a Douglas County judge sentenced Robert Harl Collins, 38 of Wichita, Kansas, to 76 years in the Department of Corrections for kidnapping two victims in an effort to locate a man who took the defendant’s money per a bad drug deal. One of the kidnapped victims was a child (2013CR513 – Douglas County).
On August 9, 2013 at 9:13 p.m., deputies from the Douglas County Sherriff’s Office responded to a report of a possible kidnapping at the 13000 block of North Rose Ridge Road in Parker. The officers spoke with the adult victim who advised them that three or four men armed with weapons entered his house. They demanded to know the whereabouts of a friend of the victim.
The victim’s friend stayed with the adult victim for a night but left days before. The victim told the assailants that he did not know where his friend was. The assailants then forced the victim and his son at gunpoint and made them walk to the victim’s car. From there, they were forced to drive the defendant and his conspirators to their vehicles. As the defendant left, he threatened to kill the victim and his family if he called the police. The defendant and his conspirators drove off in a Mercedes sedan and a truck.
Investigators canvased the scene and discovered that a car matching the description of the Mercedes had been sighted lingering in front of the victim’s house in the days prior to the kidnapping.
On August 10, 2013, officers discovered that the victim’s friend had participated in a drug deal a week prior on August 3, 2013. During the drug deal, the victim’s friend took money from the defendant, did not provide the drugs and fled.
Acting on several leads, investigators were able to locate the Mercedes in question and its owner – a co-defendant of Collins. Officers also learned that the participants of the kidnapping met at a bar after the incident, which led authorities to get an accurate description of the defendant.
The defendant was arrested on August 16, 2013.
On June 1, 2015, a jury found the defendant guilty of the following charges:
- Three counts of First Degree Kidnapping (F2)
- Three counts of Second Degree Kidnapping (F3)
- One count of First Degree Burglary (F3)
- One count of Aggravated Robbery (F3)
- One count of Second Degree Burglary (F3)
- One count of Felony Menacing (F5)
- One count of Child Abuse (M2)
- One count of Aggravated Robbery (F3)
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Burglary(F4)
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery (F4)
- One count of Violent Crime (SE)
Deputy District Attorney Brian Eckhardt stated: “The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Detective LeMaster worked tirelessly to see justice served in this case. The defendant and his co-conspirators barged in on a man and his young child pointing guns at them and forcing them from their home at night. The sentence in this case sends a clear message that this kind of dangerous behavior will not be tolerated especially when it involves an innocent child.”
Deputy District Attorney Ann Pogue stated: “The most difficult cases for me are the ones where children become victims in the very places they’re supposed to feel the most safe – in this case, the child’s own home. My hope is that the victims in this case will be able to find peace as the defendant spends the next few decades in prison.”
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock stated: “I’m proud of the hard work and dedication of the detectives who investigated this case to bring two of the three suspects to justice. We ask that if someone in the public knows who the third suspect is to contact us.”
The Honorable Theresa Michelle Slade presided over the sentencing.
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