The 46-year-old former mayor of Severance accused of patronizing a prostituted child will appear for a motions hearing in September.
Donald McLeod, 46, appeared before Weld Judge Vincente Vigil at a motions hearing Monday afternoon to address a motion to suppress evidence made by his private attorney, Melanie Sedlak.
Greeley police arrested McLeod on suspicion of patronizing a prostituted child on Sept. 9 after allegations arose that he met up with a 17-year-old boy on April 5 at Monfort Park in Greeley to engage in sexual acts.
McLeod has since been released on a $1,000 cash bond. He is prohibited to have contact with children younger than 18 in his residence, but he is allowed to have contact with underage children if another adult is present.
On Monday, multiple witnesses, including three Greeley police officers and two people from the Weld County Regional Communications Center, were called to testify about the suspicious 911 calls from a reporting party by the name of "Alex" and the actions law enforcement took during the arrest based on those calls.
In February, Sedlack accused law enforcement officers of being "politically motivated and vindictive" in the arrest of McLeod. Due to suspicions surrounding the 911 call and the officers involved, she made a motion to request the officer's cellphone records from the morning of the contact up until the forensic interview with the juvenile.
The release of these records, Sedlack said could potentially show if any officers had further conversations with Alex or if there was bias in regard to this case.
Mystery caller
On April 5, 2021, a caller from a 911-only or disconnected phone reported he witnessed two men — one older and one who appeared to be a minor — fighting in Monfort Park near a white van and maroon car. The caller identified himself as Alex and said he believed the minor owned the red vehicle and that he might be getting assaulted by the older man, according to testimony from a dispatcher.
Two Greeley police officers arrived at the scene to observe the two unoccupied vehicles, but Officer Joshua Hunter said he could not see into the back of the van. Eventually, dispatch informed the officers on the scene that Alex called with more information.
In the second call, Alex told another call taker at the communications center that the older man dragged the minor into the van. He shared he went to high school with the juvenile and said he knew his name, age and address, as well as recognized the red car belonged to him.
Although the caller would not share his phone number or last name because he was "scared" and underage, he indicated the juvenile liked to meet up with older men at the park and identified as gay.
While on the stand, the call taker told the court that she located Alex's phone at a spot just east of the park, showing that he still had a view of the two vehicles, despite statements to dispatch that he left the scene.
In addition to not being able to return calls based on the phone being a 911-only device, Hunter said he had officers search the area where the GPS located Alex's phone. Police never located anyone in the area.
Sedlack questioned why the three law enforcement officers did not complete additional efforts or seek additional information about Alex, including a warrant to get the number from the device. Hunter said even with the number, he still wouldn't have been able to call the disconnected phone.
Around the time the second call came in, Hunter testified he also heard slight movement from the back of the van and began making commands for people to exit the vehicle. Initially, the two officers received no response for 32 minutes from the occupants inside.
Observations of responding officers
In that timeframe, a sergeant arrived on the scene to assist, and the officers discovered the names McLeod and another man were registered to the van. Even though no one knew who occupied the van, Sedlack argued law enforcement made commands for McLeod to come out.
Eventually, McLeod exited the vehicle out of the driver's side door and officers placed him in handcuffs — later identifying him through his driver's license. The juvenile followed out the passenger side door shortly after.
Hunter said he noticed an obvious age gap between the two parties, along with the information from Alex that indicated the younger individual was underage. The minor ultimately told law enforcement that he was 17 years old minutes after he came out of the van.
Based on the lack of cooperation, age difference and location, Hunter said the situation appeared to be sexual by nature.
However, Sedlack once again challenged Hunter's testimony, confirming the police officer had no indications the juvenile was held hostage or assaulted, especially since the minor didn't exit the vehicle visibly upset or make any statements attesting to this belief.
The police officers on the scene never heard cries for help or muffled responses to police commands from inside the van either, Sedlack pointed out.
More so, Hunter said he had no descriptions of the two people Alex reported involved in a disturbance — and later hostage situation — other than one person looked older and white, and the other appeared to be younger.
Sedlack also asked why Hunter referred to the juvenile as a victim on body camera footage before he knew his exact age, but Wrenn clarified that based on the circumstances and age, Hunter listed the juvenile as a victim in this case.
When police officers began asking the juvenile questions on the scene, he told officers that he didn't know his rights and that he was in the back of the van to help McLeod clean and discuss potential job opportunities in construction. Neither of these responses answered the law enforcement's questions of why the two didn't listen to commands to exit the vehicle, Weld County Deputy District Attorney Steve Wrenn brought up in his cross-examination.
Before Hunter left the stand, he indicated it seemed odd for two individuals of their age difference to clean the back of the van with the doors closed and refuse to come out during police commands.
The motions hearing will continue 9 a.m. Sept. 15 before McLeod's pretrial readiness conference at 1:15 p.m. Sep. 27. His four-day trial begins on Oct. 10.
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