Former Denver bar owner facing sex assault charges

A former Denver club and brewery owner has been charged with nine counts of sexual assault. Denver police believe there may be more victims who have not yet come forwPolice believe there may be more victims of Jay Bianchi who have not come forwardard.

Jay Bianchi, who owned Sancho's Broken Arrow, Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple, Quixote's True Blue, and co-owned So Many Roads Brewery, was arrested on April 16 in relation to three sexual assault cases; two from 2020, and one from this year.

Bianchi has been charged with:

two felony counts of sex assault - victim helpless

two felony counts of sex assault - overcome victim's will

two felony counts of sex assault - victim incapable of appraising conditions

one misdemeanor count of sexual contact - victim helpless

one misdemeanor count of sexual contact - no consent

one misdemeanor count of sexual contact - victim incapable of appraising conditions

According to an arrest affidavit, one of the victims went to Sancho's on Halloween night 2020 with a friend. The victim told police, she drank a few beers spread out over a few hours before going to Sancho's. The victim said, according to the affidavit, that she had one beer at Sancho's.

She told police she struggled to get up the stairs to go to the bathroom at Sancho's, the affidavit says. She said she remembered feeling confused while in the bathroom. The victim said her next memory was being woken up in the basement of Sancho's around 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 1. The victim said the shorts she had worn the night before were across the room, the affidavit says.

The victim told police she had texts from a number that she didn't know. One of the texts said, "I'm sorry that I had to leave you alone, I wanted to be there with you but I had to fix a sound person situation."

Police ran the phone number that sent the text through their records management system and that the number came back to Bianchi.

A couple of days later, the affidavit states, the victim's friend came forward to police and said Bianchi had groped her as well on Halloween night 2020. The second woman said she had a few drinks at Sancho's and things got "fuzzy" and "blurry," the affidavit says.

Police are investigating the scene at the 3900 block of Broadway in North Boulder regarding a female suspect with a knife inside a store Wednesday night, according the Boulder Police Department.

The incident was first reported by Boulder Police at 7:58 p.m. shortly after, at 8:02 p.m., they reported the woman had been taken into custody, but the scene was still being investigated.

The shopping center located at the address is the location of Lucky’s Market, Lucky’s Bakehouse and Lucky’s Bakehouse Café. One bystander, identified as Peter Wayne, posted a view of the police presence outside via social media platform X.



According to police, one officer was injured during this incident and was taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The scene remains active and more information will be released as it becomes available, police said.

Four Denver police officers who shot and killed a man robbing a convenient store will not face criminal charges.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced in a decision letter Wednesday that the four officers involved with the shooting of 43-year-old Christopher Cauch on March 1 will not face charges. The officers were "justified based on Colorado law regarding use of force," McCann said in the decision letter to the Denver Police Department.

Editor's Note: This video contains graphic images of a man's death and has strong language. It may be difficult for some people to watch.

A man shot and killed by Denver Police officers this month had carjacked a vehicle that he drove to a 7-Eleven, where he held two employees hostage in a locked office, police said at a news conference Wednesday.

Four officers responded to several 911 calls about 6:10 p.m. March 1 at the convenience store, at West 5th Avenue and Federal Boulevard, said Denver Police Cmdr. Matt Clark.

The man was threatening two employees inside an office behind the sales counter. Officers yelled at the man to open the door. They could see through a small window in the door that the man was threatening one of the employees with a sharp implement, Clark said.