GREELEY, Colo. — When the Weld County District Attorney’s Office reopened the investigation into the death of 56-year-old Matt “Mateo” Martinez, his daughter and ex-wife were thrilled.
Rafaela Martinez, 26, and her 55-year-old mother Becky Knighton were hoping prosecutors might charge Doug and Stacy Glaze for a beating that left Martinez with a head injury that the mom and daughter believe led to the death of Martinez on Jan. 6.
Months later, Rafaela Martinez and Knighton never guessed they would be the ones facing felony charges for forgery.
“I was shocked, I was actually shocked that I was charged with this crime,” Knighton said.
Her daughter had a similar reaction.
“It’s easier to explain what happened to my dad than what’s going on now,” she said.
As FOX31 Denver Problem Solvers previously reported, in October, Martinez was involved in a fight over a parking spot in Ault. Martinez had been parking on a public street next to a football field when a neighbor, Doug Glaze, told him he couldn’t park there because it blocked his view of a high school football game.
An Ault Police Department report said Glaze and his wife Stacy were “intoxicated” when they beat up Martinez. The couple and Martinez were cited for disorderly conduct and paid a fine of $150 each.
But weeks later, Martinez lost consciousness and died from a brain injury that his ex-wife and daughter blamed on the Glazes.
“I’ve got 26 of the most amazing years with my father that I could never ever be replaced, and Doug and Stacy did not steal those memories from me, but they stole my dad. They stole my dad from me,” Rafaela said just days before her father died.
At that time, police said because the Glazes already paid a fine for disorderly conduct, it would be double jeopardy to charge them for the man’s death.
But after the Problem Solvers raised questions, Weld County District Attorney Michael O’Rourke reopened the case, saying in late December, “We can or could proceed with a prosecution under these circumstances.”
That was welcome news for Rafaela and Knighton. But they never predicted they would be the ones charged with a felony for allegedly forging the power of attorney document they insisted Mateo Martinez signed in August 2012.
“Honestly, I just wish my dad were here to be able to answer the questions and to clear the confusion up,” Rafaela Martinez said.
Knighton is a public notary who acted as the witness for the 2012 power of attorney document.
“I had nothing to gain because I had power of attorney when this power of attorney was granted to Rafaela,” said Knighton, who showed a power of attorney document that gave her privileges for Mateo Martinez dated June 1, 2003.
Knighton said in 2012 she and Mateo Martinez agreed it no longer made sense for Knighton to have power of attorney because the two had divorced and each had remarried.
Knighton said Martinez wanted his oldest daughter Rafaela to have power of attorney for him because his current wife only speaks Spanish.
“It wasn’t unusual for him to ask to me to be his power of attorney because I was already doing 9 million things for him,” Martinez said.
Mateo’s widow, Maria Martinez, said through an interpreter that she believed the 2012 power of attorney document was forged. As proof, she showed Martinez’s 2010 passport that showed a signature that doesn’t match the 2012 power of attorney document.
“She says he never used a different signature and they’ve been married for 10 years and since 2006, he never changed his signature,” Maria Martinez said through an interpreter.
Knighton and Rafaela Martinez admit Mateo Martinez’s signature doesn’t match, but they showed tax and real estate documents from years ago that also don’t match his 2010 passport signature.
“He changed his signature often because of identity theft,” said Knighton, who also said Mateo Martinez once had a warrant for his arrest in New Jersey based on traffic violations even though he had never been in New Jersey.
Knighton and Rafaela Martinez believe the real reason they were arrested was police retaliation.
“Because we called the media in regards to the investigation of Mateo’s death,” said Knighton, who thinks Ault police were embarrassed by the original investigation that reopened the case into Mateo Martinez’s death.
Knighton and Rafaela Martinez said they had no motive to forge the power of attorney document because they had nothing to gain. Mateo Martinez died practically penniless.
“He didn’t have anything and so I wouldn’t have anything to gain from doing that. There was nothing I could get,” said Rafaela Martinez, who said the power of attorney document basically allowed her to eventually remove her father’s feeding tube after doctors told her that her father’s death was imminent.
When asked what the motive might be to forge the power of attorney document, an interpreter for Maria Martinez replied, “What the letter of attorney did was it humiliated (Maria) because at the hospital she didn’t have any power to say when they needed to do something.”
The Weld County District Attorney’s Office, Greeley police and Ault police declined to comment on what possible motive Knighton and Rafaela Martinez would have to forge the power of attorney document.
In the meantime, the decision whether to charge Doug and Stacy Glaze for the death of Mateo Martinez is still under investigation. Rourke is reviewing the just-completed autopsy report to determine if criminal charges are warranted.