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This past June, Christian Hanson was accused in a murder-for-hire plot involving fellow Greeley-area gang member Jesse Rodriguez.
Hanson was convicted of this charge and others in November, and today he was sentenced to 176 years to life two days after another alleged cohort, Jesse Arispe, was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of threatening President Barack Obama.
The tale told by the Weld County District Attorney’s Office is a tangled one. In December 2009, the DA’s office contends, Hanson and Arispe kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman who had witnessed an earlier gang-related murder. Afterward, the woman identified Hanson, leading to his arrest. Then, while in custody at Weld County Jail, Hanson asked Rodriguez to kill the woman — a crime to which Rodriguez subsequently pleaded guilty.
As for Arispe, he, too, was in Weld County Jail this past when he sent a letter that allegedly contained a threat against President Barack Obama. A grand jury indicted him for the action earlier this week.
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By the way, Arispe’s Facebook page declares him to be “MIXUNDERZTOOD.” The most recent post on his wall, published on Christmas day, reads: “JESSIE NEEDS PEN PALS….SOME1 WRITE HIM. JESSIE ARISPE 2110 0ST GREELEY COLORADO 80631.”
He probably needs a lawyer, too. Look below to see the Arispe indictment and the press release about Hanson’s sentencing:
Weld County District Attorney’s Office press release:
More from our Colorado Crimes archive: “Top Colorado Crimes mug shots of 2009.”
