A recent review of a three-state auto-theft investigation that involved former Montezuma County Commissioner Larrie Rule revealed the existence of a text message that linked him to the case.

Earlier this month, The Cortez Journal examined the official 9-inch-thick Colorado State Patrol’s investigative file into four stolen cement trucks from Phoenix. The strongest, though circumstantial, evidence that connected Rule to the theft was a text message that he sent about 20 minutes before authorities raided his home and business on Dec. 12, 2012.

The text message from Rule’s phone warned a local sand and gravel company that he had discovered that a cement truck in his possession had been stolen. Reports reveal that Rule had arranged to sell a total of four cement trucks to the company.

“I would suggest backing out of the deal totally,” Rule texted the company’s co-owner.

District Attorney Will Furse, asked to comment about the text message, said he stood behind his decision not to prosecute Rule. The statute of limitations in the case expired earlier this year.

“I made the decision not to file charges against Larrie Rule based on my ethical obligations as a prosecutor after considering all the evidence, or lack of evidence, available,” Furse stated in an email last week.

Furse added that he and investigators met with counsel from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in October 2013, and the decision was made then not to proceed with charges against Rule unless additional evidence was found.

Telephone records contained in the case file reveal that Rule attempted to contact a state investigator in Montrose at 10:18 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2012. Less than 12 hours later, authorities from the Colorado State Patrol, Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office and Cortez Police Department executed a search of Rule’s home and business on County Road L.

In a report written nine days later, Rule was the only suspect listed in the case, which was led by then-State Patrol investigator Steve Nowlin. Today, as Montezuma County Sheriff, Nowlin told the Journal that he suspected that a member of law enforcement might have warned Rule about the search of his home and business in 2012, but, again, produced no proof.

The morning of the search, a Cortez police detective maintained surveillance on Rule, noting in a report that his vehicle was parked outside of then District Attorney Russell Wasley’s office. Interviewed nearly a year later on Dec. 4, 2013, Wasley said he couldn’t recall if Rule had visited him on the morning in question.

Before any charge was filed in the case, investigative records show that Wasley requested a special prosecutor on Dec. 12, 2012, the day the search warrant was executed.

State Patrol officials named a second suspect, Richard Spears of Truth or Consequences, N.M., nearly four weeks later. On Jan. 16, 2013, Spears told investigators that he had made a deal to sell four cement trucks to Rule for $32,000 each.

Telephone records included in the case file reveal that Rule and Spears made a total of 21 calls to each other in the three weeks before the raid, including about a dozen calls from Rule to Spears.

During those three weeks, telephone records reveal that Rule contacted a third suspect on 66 times. Serving as a negotiator between Rule and Spears, the third suspect, a convicted felon, told authorities that Rule had planned to make a cut on the sale of the cement trucks. The third suspect also told investigators that he would testify against Spears and Rule.

The State Patrol file also revealed that nearly 40 items of evidence were collected and more than 350 photographs were made during the investigation. Authorities conducted 10 interviews, but Rule was never questioned.

Records show that Spears led efforts to steal a total of four cement trucks, valued at $65,000 each, from a concrete facility in Phoenix.

After pleading guilty to attempted aggravated motor vehicle theft earlier this year in Colorado, Spears, 50, was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 120 hours of community service. He was allowed to complete the probationary term and public service in New Mexico.

Court records reveal that Rule not only advised the potential buyer that the four cement trucks would have to be painted before being sold for $40,000 each, but that he also paid extra to “clear up the titles.”

Throughout the investigation, Rule maintained his innocence, stating the case was politically motivated. The Journal’s attempts to reach Rule for comment were unsuccessful.

Rule, who served two terms as a Republican county commissioner, left office in January 2013 because of term limits. His wife, Pat DeGagne-Rule, resigned her position as head of the local Republican Party before a losing campaign to obtain her husband’s commissioner post.

tbaker@cortezjournal.com