A website that launched last week has drawn attention to the criminal history of Durango School District board candidate Jody Trampp, who confirmed he has a felony conviction and several past misdemeanor charges in Colorado and New Mexico.
The site, Defend Durango Schools, includes a mugshot of Trampp and claims he is a felon who has been charged in more than 30 cases within the two states. Court records confirm Trampp has at least one felony and multiple misdemeanor convictions.
While Trampp does not dispute the claims, he said the website takes his record out of context and unfairly portrays him as a dangerous or violent person.
“I have never been convicted of any violent crime related to the accusations being shared,” he said. “I take these false and misleading posts seriously, and I am formally requesting a retraction from anyone who has shared or implied that I was convicted of any violent or criminal offense.”
The Durango Herald obtained partial court records for four cases against Trampp, dated between 2003 and 2011. (Records were incomplete because of how dated some of the cases are, according to employees at the La Plata County Courthouse.)
According to a register of actions obtained by the Herald, Trampp was found guilty in 2008 of driving with a revoked license, an aggravated offense – making it a Class 6 felony.
In the arrest affidavit, the officer wrote that he pulled Trampp over because his vehicle did not have its headlights on. The officer said he smelled alcohol and noted that Trampp’s speech was thick and slurred. Trampp told the officer he did not have a valid driver’s license.
Speaking with the Herald, Trampp said his license had been revoked following one or more DUI convictions years earlier. He added that at the time of the arrest, it was probably the 13th time he had been pulled over and charged for driving without a license.
The affidavit also said Trampp had marijuana, a pipe with marijuana residue, a scale with similar residue, and a “white crystal-type substance.”
He was charged with driving with a revoked license – aggravated, and sentenced to two years of probation.
Trampp eventually ended up in Hilltop House, a halfway house in Durango, before violating the terms of his stay. As a result, he was transferred to the Sterling Correctional Facility for several months, Trampp said.
The court documents confirm that he spent several months at a state correctional facility.
Defend Durango Schools also alleges that Trampp had been charged with domestic violence and child abuse multiple times.
“We’ve all had youthful experiences in our lives. The part that concerned me was cases of child abuse and domestic violence,” said Anne Markward, one of the people behind the Defend Durango Schools website.
While Trampp was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and child abuse in La Plata County, he was never convicted on those charges. On both occasions, he pleaded guilty to lesser offenses.
In 2009, Trampp was charged with false imprisonment and harassment after a Durango police officer was called to his home, where he and a woman had been fighting.
According to court records, the woman said Trampp had alarmed her by repeatedly insulting and swearing at her for several hours as he punched the walls, broke several windows and threw items across the trailer. She said he then trapped her in the bedroom and stood in the hallway so she could not leave the residence.
The charge of false imprisonment was dropped, and Trampp pleaded guilty to nondomestic violence harassment.
Trampp said that incident requires more context.
He said he was angry with the woman for bringing meth to his house. He wanted her to leave, but she wouldn’t leave.
In 2003, Trampp was charged with misdemeanor child abuse. Court documents obtained by the Herald alleged he “knowingly and recklessly allowed a child to be placed in a situation that posed a threat of injury or to the life or health of the child.”
The specific details of the allegations remain unknown. The La Plata County Courthouse no longer had the arrest affidavit or other documentation describing the allegations because of how much time has passed since the case.
However, Trampp said the charge stemmed from giving his girlfriend’s middle school-aged child a ride on his motorcycle.
He said the woman had asked him to help with the child’s transportation, and that he had locked the keys to his car inside his home, leaving the motorcycle as his only option.
He later pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, a Class 3 misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 10 days in the La Plata County Jail.
“I have never hit a child. I’m not a violent person – at all,” Trampp emphasized, though he said he occasionally spanked his children when they were younger.
“Those were just light taps though,” he said. “I wasn’t wailing on them.”
Trampp credits his turnaround from the “prison cycle” to becoming the primary caregiver of his daughter about 15 years ago.
After his brief stint in Sterling, Trampp was transferred to Hilltop House, where he worked to regain custody of his daughter, who had been placed in foster care.
“They actually treated me as if I was a meth user, even though I don’t do meth,” he said, describing the intensive parenting classes and frequent drug tests he completed in order to bring his daughter home.
Trampp said his 20s and early 30s were marked by stints in and out of jail. During that time, he said he was charged with a total of five DUIs, two of which were dropped.
“I did have a problem with alcohol. I was really stupid in driving impaired when I was younger and I was irresponsible – quite a bit,” he said.
He added that he went through a messy divorce that contributed to some of the DUIs.
But, he said, that period of his life is behind him.
“I grew up, I got tired of it, and I decided I don’t want to spend my life in and out of jail, because every time it happens, you got to start all over on everything,” he said. “Plus with my daughter, you know, I want to set an example for her.
“It’s mostly with my daughter that really changed everything for me.”
Trampp said the website mischaracterizes his time in the criminal justice system and is no cause for concern regarding his ability to serve on the school board.
He pointed to his experience in education-related leadership, citing time on the Head Start board and the Parent Teacher Organization.
He requested retractions for any false claims of violent convictions and reiterated that he has “never been convicted of any violent crime related to the accusations being shared.”
Despite the criticism, Trampp said he has received strong community support, with many offering to campaign on his behalf.
“I appreciate community members who have reached out with support and who continue to seek the truth,” he said.
Former state Rep. J. Paul Brown, who endorsed Trampp along with Pearl Stegner and Tamra Fenberg in an Oct. 16 Facebook post, said he was unaware of Trampp’s criminal history when he made the endorsement.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” Brown said.
In light of Trampp’s background, Brown said he was unable to immediately say whether he would retract his endorsement.
“I’d have to look into it, to know the truth,” he said.
When asked if individuals running for public office such as school board should disclose their criminal history beforehand, Brown said it would “probably be a good idea.”
Trampp is running against incumbent Erika Brown, for the District A seat on the Durango School Board. Elections will be held Nov. 4.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
