A Colorado man was cited after more than 200 newspapers were stolen from distribution boxes, stopping people from buying The Ouray County Plaindealer the day it published a front-page story about an investigation into sexual assault at the home of the Ouray city police chief.
The Plaindealer said in a note to readers on Thursday that all of the newspaper’s boxes in the city of Ouray and all but one in the town of Ridgway had been emptied after the weekly newspaper’s latest edition had been distributed.
“Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn’t stop a story,” the note said.
The Plaindealer has been operating since 1877 and reports on news in mountainous Ouray County, which is about 165 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, and has just over 5,000 residents.
