‘I don’t want him around’

By DENNIS WEBB

Dennis.Webb@gjsentinel.com

At just 28 years old, Veronica Santoyo Toscano has become a successful businesswoman as the co-owner of a Culver’s restaurant location in Grand Junction, and is looking at buying a house in Rifle.

But she thinks she probably will end up selling her share of her business and moving out of Colorado, and perhaps to Mexico, if a proposal goes forward for a state mental facility patient named Michael Stagner to be temporarily released from that facility and transferred into a community facility, possibly in Grand Junction.

“I don’t really want to be here if he’s so close to me,” she says.

Santoyo’s reasons for feeling that way date back to July 3, 2001. Late that evening Stagner, a Rifle native and 1977 graduate of Rifle High School, shot seven people, all Latinos, in the area of City Market and a nearby trailer park in Rifle. Three were injured and four died.

Santoyo’s young mother, Angelica Toscano, was one of those killed; Veronica was just 4 at the time.

Stagner was later found not guilty by reason of insanity by a judge on murder and other charges, and was sentenced to the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo.

On June 25, that facility’s CEO, Jill Marshall, provided written notice in court of “temporary physical removal for treatment and rehabilitation — increased to community placement” for Stagner, unless written objections were received within 35 days. The brief notice says little else about what is proposed. It says an NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity) Disposition Committee Report supporting the change was attached to the notice. But that report is not a public document.

Santoyo said 9th Judicial District Attorney Ben Sollars told her that Stagner is asking to be moved to a facility in Grand Junction to be closer to his dad.

Sollars said in an interview that he doesn’t think he can comment specifically on whether Stagner wants to be moved to Grand Junction because he doesn’t think the proposed location is publicly available information. But his office did file an objection July 28 to the proposal, and the objection includes a reference to close unnamed family members of one of the homicide victims expressing “deep concern about the proposed placement of Mr. Stagner in Grand Junction, where they currently live and run a business.”

Santoyo told the Daily Sentinel in late August that she had been living in Grand Junction but had just moved back to Rifle. She later said that she wanted her 5-year-old daughter to go to school where she also went to school and grew up.

A status conference on Stagner’s proposal is scheduled in court in Glenwood Springs on Oct. 30. A hearing is expected to be scheduled for later on the proposal.

See AROUND, page 7A ➤

Veronica Santoyo Toscano poses for a photo on Sept. 19 next to photos of her mom Angelica, one of four people shot and killed by by Michael Stagner in Rifle in 2001. Stagner was found not guilty for by reason of insanity for the shootings. Stagner is currently being considered for release of a mental hospital, a decision that Toscano says if granted, would force her to leave the state because of the trauma that Stagner has caused.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

➤ Continued from page 1A DA SHARING CONCERNS WITH COURT

Sollars said he has worked to speak to family members of those who died and to the surviving shooting victims.

“I care about their input and to the extent that they’ve given me input about their feelings and concerns, I’ve shared that with the court,” he said.

He said in a later email to the Sentinel, “The Defendant shot and killed four people and seriously injured others. Although he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, the conduct was extremely violent. Our office’s focus is on whether the proposed placement adequately protects the public.”

The judge who found Stagner not guilty by reason of insanity, the late T. Peter Craven, at the time called the shootings a tragedy but said state law required him to consider sanity, according to Sentinel reporting then. He pointed to four competency or sanity examinations all concluding Stagner was insane and acting under religious delusions. Stagner reportedly had thought he was Michael the archangel.

Craven sentenced Stagner to be the state mental facility in Pueblo until, or if, he is determined to be sane and poses no risk to society. A judge would have to agree with that medical opinion before Stagner could be released.

CLARIFYING PROCEDURES

In an emailed response to questions from the Sentinel, Stephanie Fredrickson, spokesperson for the state Department of Human Services’ Office of Civil and Forensics Mental Health, said the department can’t discuss specific patient cases.

But she said the department “wants to clarify procedures regarding Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity patient treatment and reintegration into the community.”

Such patients “have opportunities to practice the skills that they develop during hospitalization such as anger management, coping skills, medication management, social skills, etc. This happens in group therapy and activities that support their reintegration into the community. The process includes treatment planning, individual and group therapy and skills practice and development,” Fredrickson said.

She said the department has a stepwise approach that allows patients who are not guilty by reason of insanity “to gradually earn more privileges, preparing them for discharge to the appropriate level of care.” These interventions may include being supervised on hospital grounds, being unsupervised on hospital grounds, being allowed to be temporarily off hospital grounds while supervised, and being temporarily off hospital grounds without direct supervision.

She said the disposition committee, which includes a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist and licensed clinical social worker, “provides an objective review and recommendations to address patient risk factors for community safety, readiness for increased privileges, and Temporary Physical Removal requests.”

Temporary physical removal of a patient is allowed under state law. The committee makes recommendations that are reviewed by the hospital’s chief clinical officer or chief medical officer and provided to the state hospital’s CEO for review and a recommendation to the court. Off-grounds privileges or community placement can occur only if the court approves or doesn’t reject the hospital’s order.

Fredrickson said state law also requires that patients have an annual release exam that is submitted to the CEO after a similar process.

“The court receives the release exam, which recommends whether the patient meets the criteria for release from commitment. The CEO may also provide recommendations to the Court for a Temporary Physical Removal for community placement as an alternative or a step before conditional or unconditional release,” she said.

OUTINGS FROM FACILITY ALLOWED

In 2012, 9th Judicial District Court Judge Denise Lynch, despite the district attorney office’s objections and those of the Toscano family, approved the state mental hospital’s request to allow Stagner to go on supervised outings outside the facility, under a number of strict conditions. Lynch found that the shootings, while horrific, occurred when Stagner had used alcohol, was off his medications and wasn’t receiving proper mental health treatment. She wrote that he can’t access alcohol in the hospital, is subject to regular substance abuse testing and receives intensive psychiatric treatment, his psychosis was stabilized and in remission through medication, his early warning signs are monitored daily, and he hadn’t had a violent episode since being hospitalized.

Sollars said that in 2021, Stagner received approval to go on temporary, unsupervised outings from the hospital. He said the latest proposal for temporary community placement “is kind of the next layer of privileges that we’re objecting to.”

See AROUND, page 12A ➤

➤ Continued from page 7A

In the written objection filed in court, he wrote that in 2001, “in terrifying and brutal fashion,” Stagner shot and killed four victims and seriously wounded others. While he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, “the conduct was extreme, violent, and any future risk carries extraordinary consequences,” Sollars wrote.

He wrote that Stagner has a history of violence, mental illness, substance abuse and “poor supervision responses.”

“These are all static risks that do not (and will not) change with or without current stability,” Sollars wrote.

He wrote that “the conclusions of the evaluators include ‘low risk within the context of continued psychiatric stability, sobriety, and medical compliance.’ The suggested facility for placement is not equipped to ensure those conditions are reliably maintained.”

Sollars wrote that the suggested placement facility “provides no evidence of forensic care, forensic psychiatry or risk monitoring,” or infrastructure to support rapid return to the state mental hospital or past experience with notguilty- by-reason-of-insanity clients.

Without elaborating, Sollars wrote that the suggested facility “also has some published history regarding medication management/security.” He wrote that Stagner’s “medication regimen has a high potential for side effects, mismanagement, and non-adherence,” and any facility must be able to administer medications, monitor side effects and make adjustments based on early signs of psychosis.

Sollars told the Sentinel, “Our concerns, separate from any privileged medical information, include the apparent lack of forensic psychiatric care and specialized risk monitoring at the suggested facility. We have not been provided with any information about its experience managing individuals who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity, or its ability to meet the statutory obligations that come with such a placement.“

‘CATASTROPHIC’ OUTCOME POSSIBLE

Sollars wrote in his objection that there are safety concerns that increase with the proposed transition given the risk factors.

“The consequences, given the history, could be catastrophic,” Sollars wrote.

Santoyo said the three surviving victims of Stagner’s attack all are concerned about what has been proposed.

“They’re very concerned about the situation,” she said.

All of those killed by Stagner were Mexican nationals, and so are those who were injured.

Pável Meléndez Cruz, consul general of Mexico in Denver, wrote to Sollars in July about the Stagner situation. He wrote that since the “heinous crime” of 2001, “the Consulate General of Mexico in Denver, local organizations and churches, local officials, and community leaders have played an important role in supporting the victims and the community to find some comfort and navigate their healing journey throughout these years.”

Cruz noted the eventual verdict in the murder case resulted in Stagner being sent to the state mental hospital “for an undetermined amount of time.” “This outcome caused considerable distress in the community, particularly when it became known that Mr. Stagner had been allowed supervised outings from the facility,” he wrote. Cruz wrote to Sollars that the consulate had been contacted by several surviving victims still living in the Western Slope area who reported news of Stagner possibly transferring to Grand Junction, and “expressed deep concerns, as this would bring fear to their families and the local community.”

He wrote that that government of Mexico holds utmost respect for the laws of the United States, its judicial system and the sovereignty of the state of Colorado.

“However, it is our duty to bring to your attention the concerns of the Mexican community in light of … recent developments,” Cruz wrote.

His letter was dated four days before Sollars filed his objection.

REMEMBERING THE SHOOTINGS

Guillermo Concha, legal assistant for the legal affairs department for the consulate general of Mexico in Denver, pointed back to the concerns in the Mexican community even at the time Stagner was being considered for supervised outings in Pueblo.

“Now that they learned from the district attorney that Mr. Stagner could be released (into community placement) in the area of the Western Slope they have raised more concerns and we understand that. We just wanted to let the district attorney know of the concerns of the community, the victims,” he said.

Concha’s involvement with the case through the consulate general dates all the way back to the time of the shootings.

“I clearly remember when everything happened up in Rifle,” he said.

He said he traveled to Rifle the day after the shootings to learn more about what had happened after hearing that some Mexicans probably were victims of the shooting.

“Pretty much the people in Rifle said they had concerns that he just targeted Latino people, Mexican people,” Concha said.

Just a few days after the shooting, thousands showed up in Rifle in a show of support for the shooting victims and their families and to join in a “Walk for Peace.” Then-Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, then-U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, and Leticia Calzada, the Mexican consul general in Denver at the time, were among those who participated, according to Sentinel reporting then.

Concha said of the response to the shootings, “We had great support from everybody, from all the community. I guess it was probably a watershed moment for the community. Despite your race — white, black, Mexican, whatever — it was a watershed moment for the Rifle community because the (shootings) brought everyone together,” he said.

SANTOYO’S JOURNEY

Santoyo’s mom was only 19 when she died. A 2015 Sentinel article, when Santoyo was a Rifle High School senior, she described how Angelica had only been in Rifle a few months when she was shot. She had come with her father, with the intent that they would get settled and get jobs and send for their family later.

By the time young Veronica and her sister Dulce, just 18 months old, were brought to Rifle later that July, their mother was gone. They would go on to be raised by Angelica’s mother and father.

Santoyo described in the 2015 article her difficulties growing up without her mother and coping with her death. Santoyo dealt with anger, a lot of it toward Stagner, had difficulty getting along with people, and started out struggling academically when she got to Rifle High School.

But Angelica’s mom told her about Angelica’s goals and plans in life, which included getting a GED and going to college, and told her it would be her mom’s wish that her daughters achieve the success she wasn’t able to pursue. Santoyo decided to live out her mom’s dreams, improved her grades in school and made plans to go to college.

As it turns out, Santoyo had to drop out of college after a few years after dealing with medical issues involving unexplained swelling in her brain, compounded by working two jobs to pay her bills. But she said she ended up finding herself attracted to the fast pace and chaos of the fast food industry, and after hiring on at a Culver’s, she became a general manager, got into a Culver’s mentorship program and was able to receive training that led to her becoming a restaurant owner.

Santoyo said her mom had worked in Mexico helping turn around restaurants that weren’t doing well, and she thinks her mom would have been proud to see her daughter’s own accomplishments in that industry.

Santoyo’s sister, Dulce Toscano Salgado, is a Culver’s general manager and wants to become an owner as well, Santoyo said.

Now married, Santoyo says of her move back to Rifle, “I’ve always felt something that brings me back to Rifle. The community is just amazing. I went to school here. Although it has been kind of tragic and I walk the streets where my mom passed away and stuff like that, I think I do it to be close to her, because I know this is where she wanted to be and where she wanted us to grow up. She chose Rifle for a reason. I want my daughter to also experience what I experienced growing up, the tight-knit community, everything like that.”

Now, she worries about her plans being disrupted by the proposed relocation of Stagner, and is working to get surviving victims of the shootings and others involved in opposing the idea in court.

“We’re just trying to get kind of the community together to try to see if we could fight this … because obviously I don’t want him around,” she said.

BEN SOLLARS

9th Judicial District Attorney

A photo of 19-year-old Angelica Toscano with her grandma in Mexico, taken just weeks before she was shot and killed by Michael Stagner alongside three other people in Rifle, just days after she arrived to the United States. Stagner is currently being considered release of a mental hospital, a decision that Toscano’s daughter, Veronica, is asking the courts to not allow.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

MICHAEL STAGNER

Booking photo from 2001

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel Veronica Santoyo Toscano shows a photo of her and her daughter at one of their annual birthday picnics for her mother Angelica at a memorial site for her and three others who were shot and killed by Michael Stagner in Rifle in 2001. Stagner, was was found not guilty for by reason of insanity, is currently being considered for release from the Colorado Mental Health Hospital where he has been housed since 2002.

The headlines on July 5, 2001 were all about the murderous shooting spree by Rifle native Michael Stagner. A fourth victim would later die. Stagner was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been in the Colorado Mental Health Hospital since October 2022. Stagner is currently being considered for release from the mental hospital.