An Aspen teen and his parents were charged Monday with giving cocaine and alcohol to underage high school students during parties at their home near Aspen Highlands, according to court documents.
Joseph Lipsey IV, 18, and his mother Shira Lipsey, 44, turned themselves in Monday morning at the Pitkin County Jail, where they were arrested on numerous charges including felonies. Both were released after each posting $100,000 cash-only bonds.
Lipsey is the same teen charged in January with two counts of felony vehicular assault after he was alleged to have been at the wheel of a Tesla sport-utility vehicle in November that flew off Maroon Creek Road, injuring himself and four other local high school students inside.
Lipsey’s father – Joseph Lipsey III, 56 – also faces charges connected to the alleged parties thrown at this home, though he was not arrested Monday, said Aspen Deputy District Attorney Don Nottingham.
“Joseph Lipsey III, based on reports from community members and people familiar with the family, spends much of his time out of the Aspen area,” according to his wife’s arrest warrant affidavit unsealed Monday in Pitkin County District Court. “The family owns or manages several companies and corporations …”
Both parents were charged with distribution of cocaine to a minor, among other charges, which is considered a class 1 drug felony under Colorado law. If convicted of just the distribution charge, each parent would face a mandatory sentence of between eight and 32 years in prison, Nottingham said.
Their son faces two counts of distribution of drugs to minors, among other charges, though those counts are class three drug felonies because he was less than two years older than those he allegedly provided drugs.
A message left on Shira Lipsey’s cell phone seeking comment Monday was not returned. Her son’s Eagle-based attorney also didn’t return a phone message Monday.
Evidence collected by investigators from both the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office and the Aspen Police Department includes cell phone Snapchat videos shot by an Aspen High School student that allegedly show Shira Lipsey sitting in front of a plate featuring “a pile of an unknown white powder,” according to the affidavit.
Another video allegedly shows Shira Lipsey, her son and an unidentified man sitting on a couch in front of a table featuring a white-powder dusted credit card, a rolled-up dollar bill and three green straws, one in front of each of them.
“Before sending the photo, the user put the text, ‘This kid’s parents are tryna kill me,’ on the screen with the video’s image,” the affidavit states.
Those two videos were both time-stamped about 2:45 a.m. on Jan. 3.
A third video – shot at 3:45 a.m. on Jan. 3 – shows the same plate in the first video with a “pile of white powder,” along with the same credit card and a green straw on the table. Before sending out that video, the user typed the text, “Almost did it all” to go along with the video, according to the affidavit.
And while none of the videos explicitly show the Lipseys giving cocaine to a minor, other high school kids saw the plate of cocaine upstairs at their home that night, and one allegedly saw the Lipseys and their son pass the plate to a minor, who inhaled “some lines,” the affidavit states.
That story came from the mother of an Aspen High School student, who did not want to speak to police for fear of being labeled “a snitch,” according to Shira Lipsey’s arrest warrant affidavit.
The mother said her son told her he was downstairs at the Lipsey home the night of Jan. 2, when he and others realized one of their friends was missing. They went upstairs and saw their friend sitting at the dining room table with the Lipseys and a younger couple, the affidavit states.
“And Mr. Lipsey (J. Lipsey SENIOR) … was passing around a plate of cocaine, and (the missing friend) did some lines, (and) passed it,” the mother told police, according to the affidavit. “I guess it ended up with Mrs. Lipsey … She passed it to her son, Joe … He did a couple lines.”
The woman said her son told her that when he saw the incident, he “felt like throwing up” and “didn’t know what to do,” the affidavit states.
The son told her: “Mom, it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. They were making it look normal, like they were passing around vitamins.”
This story will be updated.