Myrl Serra
Serra, 48, was arrested Thursday, Sept. 30, in the morning. He left the Montrose County jail a short time later after posting a $5,000 bond.
Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien has appointed state Attorney General John Suthers as the special prosecutor for the 7th Judicial District.
Court documents in the case have been sealed and an investigation is being conducted by the Colorado Bureau of investigation.
But other court documents show a history of problems between Serra and his ex-girlfriend, and, most recently, a restraining order request filed on Sept. 20.
That restraining order, which was denied, was requested by Serra’s ex-girlfriend Doris McCauley, in which she stated that she and her daughter were in “imminent danger” from Serra. Accusing him of phone harassment, she referred in court documents to a sexually explicit text message allegedly from Serra.
The restraining order request was denied by Magistrate William McNulty of the Mesa County Court. He wrote in court papers that there was no “imminent danger to the life or health of petitioner or the child.”
Apparently, Serra and McCauley have had problems for a long time. On June 7, 2006, court documents show that Serra’s attorney at the time, Andrew Peters, sent a letter to McCauley demanding that she stop “communicating in any way false claims concerning Mr. Serra’s reputation.”
The next day, McCauley responded with a four-page, single-spaced, letter in which she threatened to counter-sue if the Peters’ complaint was pursued, stating, “Your legal-action-threat letter does not concern me…”
Serra wrote a letter to McCauley on July 13, 2006, also in court documents, stating that he was no longer her “go-to guy” for legal advice, and said he had not read her previous letter. “Until you resolve your mental issues, you need to stop. Even if that doesn’t happen, you need to stop,” he wrote.
In September of 2006, McCauley wrote another letter to Peters, complaining that Serra still sent gifts and cards and corresponded with her.
‘He thinks I am crazy…he’s the one with the obvious mental issues,” she wrote.
Serra was the subject of another restraining order request in 2003, also denied, by Carrie Jewtraw, who was engaged at the time to McCauley’s ex-husband, and the three of them got into an altercation.
In the report dated April 17, 2003, Jewtraw states that McCauley was attacking her at her home and had her pinned down by a weight bench when Serra entered the house, pushed McCauley’s ex-husband down and grabbed Jewtraw by her hair, causing bruising to her head. The restraining order was denied in Montrose County Court on the grounds that there was not sufficient evidence of assault or threat of bodily injury and the plaintiff was not in imminent danger. McCauley had a restraining order against Jewtraw at the time.
McCauley, 40, stated in court papers that she and Serra dated off and on for several years, and filed another motion for a restraining order with the Montrose court in October of 2008. In that complaint, she stated in that four days after breaking up with Serra in May of that year, he lied to McCauley’s mother, who then allowed him take McCauley’s daughter from the grandmother’s home in Olathe to Telluride to visit McCauley at work.
McCauley stated that Serra misled her mother “under the pretense that we were still dating and he took my 6-year-old daughter without permission.” She also complained that Serra had sent her daughter a birthday card, against her wishes. Her request for a restraining order was denied by Mesa County Magistrate June Westbrook, on the grounds that the court found no imminent danger to McCauley, and that sending a birthday card is not stalking.
“It says only that the defendant sent a birthday card to a minor child, and there are also several items of correspondence included from 2006, none of which satisfy the statutory criteria,” Westbrook wrote.
McCauley also presented a seven-page timeline of her relationship with Serra to the courts, saying she started dating him in 2001, while she was still married, and accusing him of forcing her into unwanted sexual acts. She also claimed that he had committed crimes back in college, which could not be substantiated.
But whether McCauley’s prior claims have anything to do with the charges Serra now faces cannot be determined, since those court files are sealed.
Serra will make his first court appearance on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 8:30 a.m. at the Mesa County Justice Center before Judge David Bottger. Chief Judge in the 21st Judicial District in Grand Junction, Bottger was assigned the case by the State Court Administrator, Gerald Marroney, since all the judges in the 7th Judicial District had recused themselves.
EARLIER STORY POSTED on Sept. 30 at noon
MONTROSE – Montrose District Attorney Myrl Serra has been arrested on a felony charge of unlawful sexual contact, no consent, with force or threat, a class-four felony, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. Serra was also charged with misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and first-degree official misconduct.
Serra, 48, was arrested Thursday morning, Sept. 30, according to the Office of the Attorney General. Calls to the jail were referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which has not yet returned calls.
Due to Serra’s arrest, Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien has appointed state Attorney General John Suthers as the special prosecutor for the 7th Judicial District, which means he will assume prosecutorial authority, according to the Attorney General’s news release.
The 7th Judicial District includes Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Miguel, and Ouray counties.
Serra left the jail shortly after being arrested after posting bond of $5,000.
Serra will make his first court appearance on Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m. at Montrose District Court before Judge David Bottger. Bottger, Chief Judge in the 21st Judicial District in Grand Junction, was assigned the case by the State Court Administrator, Gerald Marroney, since all the judges in the 7th Judicial District disqualified themselves.
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