June 09, 2011 05:34 PM UTC

Westword connects the dots: Hancock, Prostitutes, Break-in

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• by: John Tzekara

A few days ago a few rumblings started about Mayor-Elect Hancock possibly buying services from a prostitute.  While the story didn’t have all the proof, it was covered by Westword, which I believe is still the 2nd biggest newspaper in town.

If that was the only coverage, it probably would have died there.

A few days later, however, another credible media outlet covered a break-in at the home of a former pimp (escort service operator, but let’s call a spade a spade).

From there it got more interesting

So we have a newly elected government official accused of criminal activity, and a known criminal has his house broken into and files stolen.

The 7 news piece doesn’t quite make the connection though…who might have been in that little black book?

Re-enter Westword, who has always been more willing to go out on a limb with a scandal than some other Denver media outlets.  Westword decides it’s time to lay it out on the table, putting both stories together along with more on the twisted tale:

Michael Hancock’s election took place against a bizarre backdrop. A Complete Colorado piece alleging a link between Hancock and the Denver Players prostitution ring that brought down Judge Edward Nottingham was ignored by mainstreamers, but it blew up on talk radio. On Monday, KHOW’s Peter Boyles met the story’s source: ex-Denver Players owner Scottie Ewing, whose records-filled computer was reported stolen later that day.

Did I mention these files were allegedly stolen the day before election day?  

So it’s clear at this point that this isn’t just a one day story.  Where it goes from here, however, is still debatable, and probably dependent on a couple things: was there a back-up copy of the files?  Who has the originals?  

The logical answer is that if the prostitute story is true then someone tied to the Mayor-Elect swiped them to protect Hancock, but could it be the case that someone else swiped them to blackmail him?  Also, who else was on that list?  Could another “customer” have decided it would be a good time to make it disappear when the attention would logically turn to Hancock?

Regardless of the exact details on this story, the recent break-in and continual coverage around the periphery of the story make me think of the old adage — where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Polsters — your thoughts?  (Poll follows)

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