A father would not let his college-age daughter attend a recent heavy-metal show at the American Legion’s dance hall because he feared for her safety, according to American Legion management.
The public image of American Legion Post No. 28, a fixture in Durango since 1921, has sustained a “black eye” since the arrests April 26 of two bartenders on suspicion of sexual assault for plying a 22-year-old woman with alcohol and then taking advantage of her in the Legion’s dance hall, according to the arrest affidavit.
Donna Jones, the club’s manager, stressed that the bartenders were dismissed immediately, and they will be subjected to a club vote to remove their memberships.
“We absolutely deplore what happened,” she said.
But Jones and Tony Madril, a retired Marine who is the Legion commander, also acknowledged that the club needs to regain the community’s trust.
“The people who know the Legion are still coming in, but there’s a little bit of fear out there,” Madril said. “We need to reassure (the community). This is an isolated thing. These guys don’t work here anymore, and they won’t work here.”
A feeling of alienation is what “hurts so bad,” Jones said. “It puts a black eye on us – that we’re not connected to the community. But we’re connected to the community 100 percent.”
The Durango Police Department also views the case as an isolated incident.
“We don’t have any reason to believe that anyone there is anything but mortified about what happened,” Detective Sgt. Deck Shaline said.
Detective Burke Baldwin added that the “management has been extremely helpful and cooperative throughout the investigation.”
As part of their due diligence, police encourage the public to come forward if anyone has information about the incident or any other incidents of a similar nature.
Since news of the arrests was published late last month in The Durango Herald, police have “received a couple of unsubstantiated, third- or fourth-hand reports that things may have happened to other people (at the Legion hall),” Baldwin said.
The management of the Legion doubted the veracity of the allegations.
“I’ve got a comment box up front, and I have never received any comments about being harassed or anything by bartenders,” Madril said.
Jones said she reviews the club’s videotapes on a weekly basis.
“I have never seen anything inappropriate up to this point,” she said.
The arrests of bartenders Jeffrey Rey Gallegos, 45, and Joseph “Joe Bob” Toledo, 25, struck the management as something “out of the blue.”
Toledo had been a “model member” for two years, often providing security at events and occasionally allowed to sleep overnight at the hall if it was late and he was too tired to drive home.
Toledo is not a veteran but was considered a Son of the American Legion member because of his grandfather’s military service, Jones said.
Gallegos is an Army veteran who started bartending in September.
They were considered volunteer bartenders because they were not paid salaries and worked just for tips. They also were given keys to the hall at East Second Avenue and Ninth Street.
Jones said the post did not perform a criminal background check on the bartenders because it cannot afford background checks.
Jones, 59, also felt she knew Gallegos because he is a native of Durango with strong family ties here.
“Who would think to do a background check on one of your (club) members, especially somebody you grew up with?” Jones said. “I grew up here with the Gallegos family around me. Not that I knew all of them, but I never thought I would need to do a background check.”
A check would have revealed that Gallegos and Toledo had criminal records. Toledo has a 2007 conviction for possession of an illegal weapon and was sentenced to 10 days in the county jail and 24 hours of community service.
Gallegos had a longer record that included past charges for drunken driving and domestic violence. In 2007, Gallegos was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and unlawful sexual contact for an incident at El Rancho Tavern.
He was accused of grabbing a woman at the bar and getting into a fight with her boyfriend, striking him in the eye, according to the arrest affidavit. As part of a plea arrangement, Gallegos pleaded guilty to assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to three years probation with 90 days in jail and 50 hours of community service, according to court records.
In spite of the embarrassment concerning the bartenders’ most recent arrests, the management of the American Legion post said they have not lost any members. Events have not been canceled, either.
A family is celebrating an 80th birthday at the post this weekend.
A group of cloggers who have danced every week at the hall for the last 10 years said they are not abandoning Post No. 28, either.
The American Legion does offer a deal – $20 to rent the hardwood ballroom for two hours on a Thursday afternoon, members said.
“We couldn’t do it anywhere else in town (for that price), that’s for sure,” Cindy Greer said.
The cloggers also feel disconnected to what happens at the post’s bar at night.
“I was appalled by the story, but I’m not afraid to come here,” Janice Taylor said.
Joni Bender said: “I saw their pictures (of the bartenders), and I don’t think I have ever seen them here. I felt bad for the people who come here and want to make this a nice place to be.”
Post No. 28 has about 200 members,which includes all veterans, auxiliary members and descendents of veterans.
Jones said the club will not disband.
“Yeah, we have a black eye, but that’s not going to stop us from supporting our veterans,” she said.
jhaug@durangoherald.com
