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Teen girl testifies that man bought her booze in Aspen

Rick Carroll
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN – A district judge has taken under advisement whether to bound a homeless man over for trial on 20 felony counts of contributing to a delinquency of a minor.

A preliminary hearing for Dandy Vickery, 46, wrapped up Tuesday in Aspen, but District Judge James Boyd said he was unsure if the charges match the alleged offenses.

“Probable cause has been shown that the defendant committed alcohol-related offenses. …The legal problem is the charges as written as it pertains to the evidence,” the judge said.



Boyd said he expects to make a ruling by July 20, Vickery’s next court appearance.

Aspen police arrested Vickery in March on a warrant out of Pitkin County. He also is accused of making sexual advances toward the youth, or unlawful sexual conduct, which is a misdemeanor.




The alleged victim, a 15-year-old girl, testified in court Tuesday that she ran away from home for a period of roughly three weeks in February and March.

She said she met Vickery on nearly a daily basis, by the fire hearth in downtown Aspen, and he would buy her vodka. She said she consumed up to one-half gallon a day, either straight or mixed with Gatorade.

“Every day I was given alcohol, but I did not always have to pay for it,” the girl said.

The girl testified that she, along with her boyfriend, made ends meet by panhandling, eating at McDonald’s and sleeping in alleys, stairwells, a laundry room, and under the Shale Bluffs bridge with Vickery.

She testified that she was arrested in March on a minor in possession charge.

If convicted, Vickery faces hundreds of years in prison because of prior felonies that would trigger sentencing enhancements and add decades to his term.

Vickery, who is being held in the Pitkin County jail on $15,000 bond, is being represented by attorney Kathy Goudy.

Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin is the lead prosecutor in the case.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com

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