Investigation of Cortez-area official by auto-theft task force ongoing

Font ResizeColorado NewsBy Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Postdenverpost.comPosted: 12/20/2012 03:35:08 PM MSTDecember 20, 2012 10:35 PM GMTUpdated: 12/20/2012 03:35:09 PM MST

A vehicle-theft investigation involving a Montezuma County commissioner has turned out to be more complicated and far-reaching than anticipated and will require another month of work, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

A task force made up of multiple law enforcement agencies and headed by the state patrol, conducted a three-day search a week ago of the home and home-based trucking business of county commissioner Larrie D. Rule and his wife, Pat DeGagne-Rule, the former longtime chair of the Montezuma County Republican Party.

Neighbors said that during that search, officers drove two cement mixer trucks from the property where the Rules have a home and a shop and operate Rule Trucking.

The day that search ended, Colorado State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mike Baker, said his agency would be releasing information about the investigation within days.

Thursday, Baker said there won't be any information about the case until after the first of the year.

"The scope and scale of this investigation has increased to the point that anything we say could jeopardize the investigation," Baker said.

Larrie Rule, who has served two terms as a Republican county commissioner, is leaving office in January because of term limits. Pat DeGagne-Rule resigned her position as head of the local Republican Party earlier this year so she could attempt to run for her husband's seat. She did not make the ballot in the primary process.

The Rules have not returned calls requesting comment about the investigation.

The Task Force that is conducting the investigation — Beat Auto Theft Through Law Enforcement — is made up of investigators for the state patrol and local law enforcement agencies. A neighbor of the Rules' said that there were as many as 13 law enforcement vehicles at the Rules' at one time during the search. He said they included the State Patrol Port of Entry, the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office, the Cortez Police Department and the FBI.

Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957, nlofholm

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