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Man arrested for robbing Aspen cabbie at knifepoint

Wyatt Haupt Jr.
whaupt@aspentimes.com
Aspen, CO Colorado
Justin Brink
ALL |

ASPEN, Colorado ” A 26-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly holding up an Aspen taxicab driver at knifepoint in the Truscott Place parking lot, authorities said.

Justin Nathaniel Brink, of El Jebel, is accused of aggravated robbery in the Feb. 21 incident. He was being held at the Garfield County jail on $50,000 bond in an unrelated case.

A break in the case came when officer Matt Burg served a search warrant on a local telephone service provider, Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn said. That allowed access to phone records for the period in which the alleged incident took place.



The records showed two calls were made to High Mountain Taxi from a cellular phone that allegedly belonged to Brink. The first call was made about 12:08 a.m. Feb. 21 with a second call at 12:19 a.m.

Brink, who allegedly used an Apple iPhone to make the calls, asked to be picked up at the Truscott Place apartment complex. A taxicab driven by Jeffrey Evans was dispatched to the area.

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When the taxicab arrived at the complex, Brink got into the back seat of the vehicle and allegedly pulled a knife on the driver. At that point he demanded money, authorities said.

Brink allegedly took money and the keys from the vehicle, and headed off toward the apartments.

He will likely be advised of the charge against him April 6 in Pitkin County District Court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin said. He said bond was set at $20,000.

“That was a good piece of police work,” Mordkin said of the events leading up to the arrest.

The incident was the third reported crime against a High Mountain Taxi cab driver since 2007. Brooks Mims Talton III pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and driving while ability impaired in August.

He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation and 30 hours of community service.

Talton, an Oklahoma resident, was accused of assaulting a taxi driver and stealing his cab in July 2007.

The other incident involved John McDonald of Bayside, N.Y., who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault count in February 2008. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation.

The guilty plea stemmed from a November 2007 incident in which McDonald beat up a cab driver.


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