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Serving Greeley, Evans and neighboring communities
AUGUST 6, 2016
GREELEY, COLORADO $1.25 VOL. 145 NO. 268
JOHN ANTHONY SILVA TRIAL
Guilty
WEST NILE
Gang member convicted on all but one charge
Two cases confirmed in Weld Vector index highest ever recorded By Kelly Ragan kragan@greeleytribune.com
For about three weeks, Linda Robbins, of Greeley felt exhausted, easily confused and anxious. The Sears Real Estate agent finally went to the doctor and learned her fate. On Thursday, she became one of Weld County’s first documented human infections of the West Nile virus. “I came into work and I couldn’t do anything,” Robbins said. “It seemed like getting up to take a shower was more than I could do in a day.” Come Friday, there was another confirmed infection in the county, which earlier this week revealed the first West Nile human infection this summer. The vector index is 2.75, the highest ever recorded in Weld, said Eric Aakko, public information officer for the Weld County department of Public Health and Environment. The calculation is used to determine the risk of human infection for the virus. Any score 0.75 or higher indicates a significant risk for humans. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA POLSON/jpolson@greeleytribune.com
GREELEY POLICE DETECTIVE MIKE PRILL leans Friday to hug the son of Gumercindo Munoz-Vizcaino after John
Anthony Silva was found guilty on all but one charge in an organized crime case at the Weld District Court in Greeley. BELOW LEFT: Silva is escorted out of the courtroom Friday after he was found guilty. BELOW RIGHT: Weld Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia points toward Silva during the start of his closing statements on Friday.
FRONTIER ACADEMY
BY MARY-KATE NEWTON | MNEWTON@GREELEYTRIBUNE.COM
C
ries from both sides of the gallery splintered the courtroom Friday, as a Weld District Court jury read John Anthony Silva’s first conviction: Guilty of murder in the first degree.
The jury convicted Silva, 35, a longtime Greeley gang member, of murder in the first degree, violation of Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, first-degree burglary, aggravated robbery, intimidating a witness or victim and felony drug charges. He was acquitted of one charge, second-degree assault on Roberto Najera. Proving the violation of Colorado Organized Crime Control Act charge involved presenting 18 years worth of evidence and testimony about Silva’s gang activity stretching between 1998, when he was involved drive-by
shooting, to November 2014, when he and others robbed a coin store. When convictions were read, Division 15 of the Weld County Court — silenced by an agonizing two weeks of trial — resounded with reactions. Mishayl Winder, the mother of one of Silva’s children sobbed. Anna Munoz, the daughter of murder victim Gumercindo Munoz, cried as her face fell into her hands. Greeley Police Detective Mike Prill,
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» What’s next John Anthony Silva will be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 19 in Weld District Court. On the murder charge alone, the only possible sentence is life without parole. For all other charges, he faces up to 130 additional years.
New athletic facilities on horizon By Tyler Silvy tsilvy@greeleytribune.com
Throw out the phrase, “If you build it, they will come.” For Frontier Academy, it’s “Once they’re here, you must build it.” The west Greeley charter school will soon embark on an athletic facility building spree spurred by the growth of not only Frontier but also its close neighbors to the north, University Schools. The two charter schools have for more than a decade shared athletic and other extracurricular facilities — a theater, for example. But growing pains, Frontier officials explain, have forced the Wolverines’ hand. Indeed, when the two school located near one another in the early
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« WHAT’S INSIDE TRI HARD Greeley Triathlon Club offers camaraderie, help training. Sports, Page B1
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Peaches for Hospice Deadline to order is Aug. 10 Order by phone at 970.352.8487 $40 full box $25 half box
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Back by popular demand, our peach sale is returning this year thanks to our partnership with a local peach distributor in Palisade, CO.