Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said his office assisted Jasper Police Department with a traffic stop on June 24 in Jasper on a suspected intoxicated driver. Mark Louis Damman, aged 60, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, had been at Bradley Park swimming while at least two large groups of children were there. He then left the park and was stopped in Jasper where it was determined he appeared to be intoxicated. Jasper Police Chief Michael Henderson performed field sobriety tests on Damman and detained him for suspicion of DWI. Henderson then called for Newton County Sheriff’s Office to take over the investigation. Officers also located a marijuana pen in plain view in the vehicle. Damman later refused to take a blood alcohol content breath test.
Damman was transported to the Newton County Jail where a check of his Colorado driver’s license revealed he is a registered sex offender in Colorado. Damman had told law enforcement that he had purchased land near Jasper and was building a house. It was determined he had been in Newton County staying on the property for approximately three days on this visit, but he had visited the county on other occasions. Damman had failed to notify the Newton County Sheriff’s Office sex offender officer of his registration status or presence here on any of the occasions.
Damman was charged with DWI, refusal to submit to chemical testing, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements, a felony offense. A judge set his bond at $5,000.
“The fact that this man was intoxicated and swimming in our city park near a bunch of small children is both scary and infuriating. Especially since his initial offense in Colorado was allegedly against a four-year-old child,” Sheriff Wheeler said. “I’m glad Chief Henderson located him and we were able to determine what his history was like and deal with that accordingly.”
