ABOVE:Why the bizarre case of the misplaced hair could add more than 20 years to a Colorado inmate’s prison sentence
Call it a bizarre case of hair whodunnit.
This after a Colorado prisoner’s complaint about a hair in his prison food eventually blossomed into a full criminal investigation, growing to involve even the local District Attorney.
Now the man who filed the complaint could be facing an additional 24 years in prison.
It started with a situation familiar to so many of us: Inmate Ron Wolfe says he went to grab his dinner tray at the Summit County Jail in Breckenridge, Colorado when he noticed a stray hair in his beef stroganoff.
“I just came out to get my tray and I lifted up the lid and noticed that there was hair in my food,” Wolfe told CBS Denver.
In the Summit County Jail, food is prepared and distributed by the prisoners themselves.
“I just assumed somebody was messing with me,” Wolfe said.
So Wolfe reported his unpleasant “discovery” to prison officials – unaware the one little hair would lead to a world of trouble.
His accusation led to a full investigation by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, who went to great lengths to discover who was behind the misplaced hair.
Prisoners were interviewed, surveillance camera footage was pulled, and police eventually came across a break in the case – and a plot twist.
The key footage shows Wolfe receiving his tray of food, then moving out of the camera’s frame.
Unfortunately for him, his reflection can still be seen, including a series of what Summit County police call “small movements with his arms and hands”, seeming pulling something from his head before walking away with the tray.
That’s right: police are now accusing Wolfe of putting his own hair in the food – and they’re prepared to throw the book at him.
Summit County District Attorney Bruce Brown has now charged Wolfe with three felonies, including tampering with physical evidence, false reporting, and attempting to influence a public servant, as well as a bail bond violation.
In all, he could face an additional 24 years in jail for his false follicle folly.
Brown justified the decision to press charges, saying the act of lying about the misplaced hair “offends the integrity of Summit County government on a very fundamental level.”
Wolfe is also facing charges on five separate unrelated incidents during his time in Summit County Jail, on top of the assault and menacing charges that put him behind bars to begin with.
But he’s sticking to his story, and says he regrets even speaking up.
“I would probably go hungry if I knew I was even going to be charged.”
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