Two inmates housed in the Chaffee County Detention Center have been charged with several criminal violations after detentions officers discovered a hole punched through an exterior window in one of the cells and a makeshift rope crafted from a shredded bed sheet dangling from the window to the parking lot outside.  The rope, weighted with a toothpaste tube, was discovered by a deputy performing a routine check of the exterior wall last Friday, August 16, at about 4:45am.  When the deputy tugged at the rope it was quickly withdrawn inside the cell.

After the arrival of additional jail staff, inmates lodged within the pod where the suspect cell is located were removed and searched.  All individual cells, each occupied by a single inmate, were also searched.  In one cell, occupied by Bradley Don Taylor, 39, deputies discovered the bed sheet rope that had been inserted through a two-inch hole in the window and a sharpened tweezers attached to a toothbrush handle to form a weapon.  Also found was a piece of aluminum taken from a jail cot and used as a tool to gouge through the window pane, a supposedly bullet-proof glass material with opaque but translucent covering that allows natural light into the cell.

Another cell, occupied by Trenton Michael Nordby, 22, contains the tampered jail cot.  Deputies discovered that two aluminum rods had been removed from the cot and concealed beneath a mattress.  Also found was a small amount of tobacco, considered contraband within the facility. 

Charges filed against Bradley Don Taylor, of Decatur, Texas, include:

violation of CRS 18-8-208.1 (2), attempted escape, a class 5 felony; violation of CRS 18-8-203(4), first degree introduction of contraband, a class 4 felony; violation of CRS18-8-204.1, first degree possession of contraband, a class 4 felony; and violation of CRS 18-4-501, criminal mischief, a class 4 felony.

Bond was set at $3,000.  This is in addition to a total bond amount of $30,000 for the charges against Taylor for the offenses for which he was originally jailed.

Charges filed against Trenton Michael Nordby, of Salida, include:

violation of CRS 18-18-203, first degree introduction of contraband, a class 4 felony; violation of CRS 18-8-204.1, first degree possession of contraband, a class 4 felony; violation of CRS 18-8-204, second degree introduction of contraband a class 6 felony; and violation of CRS 18-8-204.2, second degree possession of contraband, a class 1 misdemeanor.

Bond was set at $30,000.  This is in addition to a total bond amount $10,000 for the charges against Nordby for the offense for which he was originally jailed.