WEEK OF JANUARY 30, 2025
VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 48
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Locals among riot cases pardoned by Trump Government reverses course on prosecutions for Jan. 6 insurrection BY ELLIS ARNOLD AND JANE REUTER EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
cilities in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which is located in southeastern Ukraine. In late August 2024, about 200 Russian missiles and drones caused millions of households to lose power. The Associated Press reported it was the 11th massive combined attack by Russia on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The loss of power has made it difficult for many to communicate with loved ones, for hospital workers to communicate with first responders and treat patients in hospitals, and for educators and students to continue schooling. When the war started, Lenec’s best friend in Ukraine told him: “Нехай світ не забуде про
Within hours after his second inauguration, President Donald Trump moved to pardon or drop the cases of people charged in relation to the riot at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Jefferson County and Douglas County men are among them. Patrick Montgomery, 52, of the Roxborough area, had been sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the breach of the Capitol, a news release from the federal Department of Justice said. A Kittredge man, Jeffrey Sabol, had been sentenced to prison on three felonies for offenses tied to the Capitol breach. Matthew Melsen had been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges amid the breach of the Capitol, a news release from the federal Department of Justice said. Melsen is described as a Wheat Ridge resident in the release. The riot disrupted a joint session of Congress that convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s action, dated Jan. 20 this year, marked a broad reversal in the government’s approach to the Capitol riot. In all, Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences of or vowed to dismiss the cases of a vast number of people charged with crimes in the Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers, the Associated Press reported. In the years since the incident, more than 1,500 people had been charged in nearly all 50 states related to the breach of the Capitol, an October 2024 Justice Department news release said. Here’s a look at the cases with local ties.
SEE UKRAINE, P4
SEE PARDONED, P8
Interact Club students from Mountain Vista High School and Mountain Ridge Middle School work with the Highlands Ranch Rotary Club to assemble PHOTO BY HALEY LENA solar panels with USB chargers that will be shipped to Ukraine.
Students pitch in to help Ukraine Local youths assemble solar panels that will be sent to schools, hospitals in war zone
Shortly after Lenec returned to the U.S., he began doing weekly Zoom calls with his friends in Ukraine. “When the war started, I was still running these weekly calls,” said Lenec. “I was just devastated. I was gobsmacked.”
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Ukraine’s energy infrastructure targeted
As a first-generation American, Broomfield resident Andy Lenec was steeped in the language and culture of Ukraine. His parents were political refugees who relocated to the United States after World War II to escape Russian occupation. Once he retired as an engineer, Lenec joined the Peace Corps and lived in Ukraine from 2017 to 2018, where he made numerous connections.
For months, Russia grew its military presence along Ukraine’s border and on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched a fullscale invasion on Ukraine in what he called a “special military operation.” Nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s territory was seized within the first few weeks. However, Ukraine met Russian troops with resistance. “I just kind of had a feeling —
a gut feeling — that energy was going to become an issue,” said Lenec. “And it did.” That fall, Russia launched a new strategy to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is reliant on nuclear power, according to the International Energy Agency. Nearly half of the county’s electricity is generated off nuclear power, followed by coal and gas-fired plants, all of which were damaged or occupied by Russian attacks. Experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported that in less than a month after the invasion, about 10.7% of Ukraine’s total energy production was eliminated as Russia captured one of the largest nuclear fa-
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