Posted on 03/08/2002 12:22:57 PM PST by real saxophonist
Ceramic penis case headed for trial
Man rejects pleading guilty to tampering
By Owen S. Good, News Staff Writer
BOULDER -- The guy in the car alongside him must have spotted something dangerous in the road, Lynn O'Leary thought. The man was honking his horn "frantically" and motioning to roll down the window.
"Have you heard about the man who stole the art out of the Boulder library?" the other driver asked.
"Yes," said O'Leary, of Broomfield, driving his wife to her doctor appointment.
"That was me! That was me! I'm the library bandito!" yelled Bob Rowan, laughing "hysterically," according to O'Leary, and pointing at a sweat shirt bearing that name above the U.S. flag.
The same Bob Rowan, still defiant and remorseless for stealing ceramic penises from an art exhibit, is steaming toward a trial, after he and a prosecutor rejected each other's plea agreement offers Thursday.
Rowan took the penises from their display at the Boulder Public Library on Nov. 11, declaring them offensive, "male-bashing" non-art. He was alerted to their presence by talk-radio programs, which had savaged the library for not making a patriotic display of a large American flag.
If Rowan does end up in front of a jury, an outraged O'Leary wants to be a prosecution witness. He wrote District Attorney Mary Keenan to describe the Dec. 4 incident and demand a severe punishment for Rowan, who said he could not recall the run-in on U.S. 287 north of Lafayette.
Prosecutors could use the incident to demonstrate Rowan's acknowledgment he stole the art and his lack of contrition. But it also speaks to his persona since the Nov. 10 theft, as a man who enjoys his celebrity and promoting it, as a guest of radio talk programs and political dinners.
Now Rowan says the leader of a Longmont Republican women's group is encouraging him to run as a Republican for the 10th District seat in the state House of Representatives. He is considering the bid. Rep. Alice Madden is the incumbent.
State GOP chairman Bob Beaupre said Rowan has not been recruited to the campaign, and Boulder County chairman Kevin Heupel said he hasn't talked to Rowan about it.
"He definitely got attention with what he did, but the debate is out whether or not that was appropriate," Heupel said. "To take the next step and commit a criminal act to prove a point, it's hard to get excited about it."
Still, some have heralded Rowan as a principled civil disobedient for taking artist Susanne Walker's Hangin' 'Em Out to Dry from the Boulder Public Library, claiming responsibility for the act on KOA-AM radio and admitting the deed to police.
"He's got incredible integrity," said Rowan's lawyer, Bob Gilbert of Arvada.
A police report offers a different picture.
Rowan appeared drunk, with alcohol on his breath, when officers arrived at his home to collect the artwork, according to the report.
When confronted, he at first said he did not know what officers were talking about. When told they knew he had the art pieces, he led them to his truck, where officers were unable to locate them. Rowan's wife then walked out with a white plastic bag containing the ceramic penises.
Rowan said Thursday his eyes were bloodshot and his thoughts were scattered because it was 1:30 a.m. and he had been awakened from a deep sleep.
Rowan faces a charge of second-degree criminal tampering, not theft. He refused Thursday to plead to that misdemeanor charge, which would be dismissed after a year if he stayed away from Walker and the library.
"He can't plead to something he didn't do," said Gilbert, Rowan's attorney.
Gilbert's defense is undermined by his client's behavior, Walker said.
"The only reason this is going to trial is because he won't plead guilty to something he's admitted to every reporter who's called him," she said.
Prosecutor Cassidy Murphy consulted with Walker about Rowan's offer to plead to a lesser charge. Walker disapproved.
Rowan, who said earlier Thursday he'd hoped to cut a deal and "begin the healing," blames Walker for pushing the case to trial.
"She's hangin' me out to dry," Rowan said.
Contact Owen S. Good at (303) 442-8729 or goodo@RockyMountainNews.com.
What is second-degree criminal tampering?
As for him being drunk in his own home, what's wrong with that?
This man was outraged and removed them........guess he had the balls.
LOL - well put!
Lets hope not!
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