Sexual assault, false imprisonment have ‘probable cause’ against Aspen suspect
Ruling determined in Michael Brown’s preliminary hearing; proceedings to continue in April
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Sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment charges against a man accused of detaining a woman in his van in an Aspen ski resort parking lot have probable cause to continue the case, a judge ruled on Thursday.
Michael Brown, now 33, is accused of holding a 19-year-old woman against her will and sexually assaulting her in his van at the Buttermilk parking lot between Dec. 15 and Dec. 25, 2023, according to a statement of facts filed by the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Sergeant Brad Gibson, the lead investigator on the case, confirmed Brown allegedly removed the SIM card from her phone, so her family could not track her, and threatened to harm her or her family members should she leave the van.
Pitkin County Judge Laura Maker found there was probable cause for four felony charges raised against Brown: sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, false imprisonment, and menacing.
“I find probable cause for all the elements of those four prelim eligible charges,” she said, adding, “It is clear to the court that proof beyond reasonable doubt is a much different standard than the court is required to apply at this particular hearing.”
Maker added that just probable cause is required to continue proceedings in a preliminary hearing.
The alleged victim was reportedly buying cocaine from Brown in late November or early December 2023, an accusation Brown later denied to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
In the weeks preceding the allegations, Brown pressured the alleged victim to smoke crack with him, Gibson said in the testimony. He added that she began smoking frequently after relapsing and that the alleged victim’s crack addiction became “heavy.”
Brown later allegedly proposed that the alleged victim sleep with him in exchange for crack, which the victim told the sheriff’s office she agreed to do, Gibson said.
“She said it started off consensual because she wanted to get narcotics from Mr. Brown, and then it turned non-consensual,” Gibson said, although Brown later argued against this.
Gibson said the alleged victim told the sheriff’s office that when she went to the van for more drugs, Brown allegedly told her to take her SIM card out of her phone.
For the next 11 days, Gibson said the alleged victim told the sheriff’s office that she stayed in the van; Gibson said the sheriff’s office found no records of the alleged victim’s cell phone use between Dec. 15 and Dec. 25.
Brown also would give her drugs before he would leave the van for work, Gibson said.
The sheriff’s office and medical records later confirmed that she had tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and cocaine in her blood immediately after she was allegedly falsely imprisoned in the van.
The alleged victim told the sheriff’s office Brown had non-consensual sex with her on multiple instances in the van, according to Gibson, who added he believes she didn’t attempt to escape out of fear.
“He also made threats during that time that he was going to kill her, kill her mom, kill her cat, burn down the family house,” Gibson said. “So she stayed out of fear.”
The alleged victim told the sheriff’s office she would search for the SIM card while Brown was at work. She said Brown held a knife to her when returning to the van after work one day to find his belongings strewn about the vehicle, saying, “Don’t ever (*******) touch my (****),” according to Gibson.
On Dec. 25, Gibson said the alleged victim found the SIM after adjusting the window coverings of the van and called her friend. Four of the alleged victim’s friends came to the van, contacted her mother, and took her to Aspen Valley Hospital, according to Gibson.
Gibson said with a February 2024 search warrant the department found what he believes to be drug paraphernalia in the van but never found a testable amount of drugs in the van or on Brown. He said the department found nine metal spoons that were coated in what they believed to be baking powder.
“And in my experience, that indicates somebody was mixing narcotics with baking powder or baking soda,” he said.
Gibson said they also found two small plastic baggies with an untestable amount of white residue in them, as well as a “supermarket” box of small Ziplock baggies.
Defense Attorney Trent Palmer said the evidence provided by Whiting was hearsay.
He brought forward a letter that was obtained by the sheriff’s office with a search warrant in October 2024, which Brown told his family would exonerate him from the charges. Brown said the letter was written to him by the alleged victim, but Gibson said the alleged victim was never asked to confirm if she had written the letter.
“Michael, you scare me, intimidate me in a healthy way and challenge me,” Gibson read aloud from the letter. “You make me think of Aqua Man Michael.”
Palmer also said there’s evidence in the record that the alleged victim left the van during the 11-day period and went to the Aspen Police Department.
Palmer argued Aspen Police concluded that she wasn’t in distress and did not meet the criteria for confinement after the report.
Palmer also brought Brown’s father to the stand, Lewis Brown, who testified that Brown and the alleged victim had made a trip to eat dinner with him and his wife on Dec. 24 in Glenwood Springs, the day before the alleged victim’s friends reportedly met her at the van.
“They actually looked like they kind of knew each other,” Lewis said of Brown and the alleged victim at the dinner. “They were ‘touchy touchy.'”
The father confirmed that he never thought the alleged victim was in distress, looking for help, or upset when they met at the dinner.
“There’s not evidence to suggest someone was falsely imprisoned in a van at Buttermilk,” Palmer said, adding, “How do you falsely detain someone in a van when you’re not even there?”
Brown, according to Palmer, also said he had asked the alleged victim to leave the van.
Palmer asked Gibson why the alleged victim did not talk to the sheriff’s office until March 2024.
“She was in no mental state,” Gibson said.
Maker set Brown’s arraignment for April 21.
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.
Sexual assault, false imprisonment have ‘probable cause’ against Aspen suspect
Sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment charges against a man accused of detaining a woman in his van in an Aspen ski resort parking lot have probable cause to continue the case, a judge ruled Thursday.
