By Mitchell Byars
Boulder Daily Camera
BOULDER, Colo. — A Denver man accused of stealing handguns, badges and computer equipment from the home of a Boulder County sheriff’s deputy whom he was in a relationship with is now charged with stealing an assault rifle in 2010 from another Boulder deputy he also was in a relationship with, according to court records.
Nicholas McKibben, 24, was arrested and charged in January with breaking into the home of a Boulder deputy in the 2000 block of Rock Creek Circle in Superior.
According to a search-warrant affidavit, sometime between 7:20 p.m. Dec. 6 and 2:30 a.m. Dec. 7, someone entered the deputy’s home and took guns, badges and other belongings. During that time, the deputy and McKibben were scheduled to meet at the X-Bar — which advertises itself as a gay bar — in Denver at 10 p.m. along with other Boulder County deputies and dispatchers.
McKibben showed up to the bar at 11:30 p.m., according to the affidavit, and said he was late because his tires had been slashed while he was leaving Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he was a student.
While looking into the case, an investigator noticed a similarity to a 2010 burglary of a Boulder deputy’s home in Westminster in which the deputy’s assault rifle and ballistic vest were stolen while he was on vacation. Investigators identified McKibben as a suspect in that case as well.
According to the affidavit, both deputies had intimate relationships with McKibben. The deputy in the Westminster case — who has since moved to Hawaii — may have been trying to get into the military, which investigators believed made him reluctant to reveal his relationship to McKibben, according to the affidavit.
In January, the deputy involved in the Superior case saw a picture on Facebook of McKibben holding a rare bottle of wine that had been stolen from his home in the burglary, according to the affidavit.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for McKibben’s home and found several items believed to be missing from the homes of both deputies, as well as from several other burglaries across the Front Range. Investigators also noted McKibben’s car had no damage to its tires despite McKibben saying his tires had been slashed the night of the burglary. He was arrested when he returned to the house while investigators were still there.
McKibben is scheduled to be arraigned on the Boulder County charges June 22 and on the theft and burglary charges in the Westminster case on June 4 in Jefferson County District Court.
McKibben is free on $30,000 bond in the Boulder County case and $20,000 bond in the Jefferson County case.
His attorney, Steven Louth, could not be reached for comment.
In March, Louth said there could be a plea deal in the works in the Boulder County case.
McKibben also is facing additional burglary charges in El Paso County.
There is no indication that McKibben was connected to a separate incident in September 2011 when an unmarked squad car was stolen from a Boulder County deputy’s home in Westminster. The car was later recovered with an assault rifle, ammunition and a bullet-proof vest still missing.
Copyright 2012 Prairie Mountain Publishing