The arrest of Denver jam-band fixture Jay Bianchi this week on suspicion of sexual assault follows three decades’ worth of other legal trouble and criminal allegations related to his businesses and personal practices. There have also been convictions for assault, drug possession and the flouting of COVID-era closure mandates.
But critics say the Denver Police Department could have done more by publicly addressing the sexual assault allegations sooner, with or without charges, and by communicating more effectively with alleged victims who have been calling for action for years. They also believe that if Bianchi had been arrested earlier, it could have saved more potential victims.
“The victims, their legal teams and the CMU pushed consistently for the Denver Police Department to move the legal investigation against Bianchi forward, with unsatisfactory and delayed results …” the Colorado Musicians Union wrote in a statement shared with The Denver Post. “While we thank the Denver Police Department for taking action, the lack of urgent response allowed for years of sexual assault to continue.”
Bianchi, 55, was booked into the Downtown Detention Center on Tuesday on suspicion of six counts of sexual assault and one count of unlawful sexual contact related to three separate cases. They include sexual assault reports stemming from a 2020 Halloween party, as well as three new charges from April 7 of this year.
Bianchi is the former co-owner of Sancho’s Broken Arrow and So Many Roads Brewery, and the former owner and operator of the Grateful Dead-themed bars Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple and Quixotes. He has repeatedly denied allegations of drugging and raping women when contacted by The Post over the last three years.
It was not clear what prompted Tuesday’s arrest, given that some of the charges stem from allegations that are more than three years old, and police officials declined on Thursday to answer questions as to the timing. They also declined to release Bianchi’s arrest affidavit, citing state laws that protect sex assault victims.
One of Bianchi’s alleged 2020 victims, Kylie Heringer, told The Post on Thursday that she didn’t know why it took more than three years for Bianchi to be arrested in connection with her 2020 assault. A former sound technician at Quixotes, Heringer moved to Los Angeles and left the music industry in 2022 partially to get away from the trauma of her experience, she said this week.
In previous interviews with The Post, Heringer and another woman, Bonnie Utter, said Bianchi drugged and sexually assaulted them in 2020. An unnamed woman on April 7 also reported a new sexual assault, according to the police report. The alleged incident happened in the 900 block of First Avenue and led to three of the current charges, all of them felonies. So Many Roads is located at 918 W. First Ave.
“I am furious about what’s happened in our scene and flabbergasted that it has taken so long to first of all arrest him but secondly to get people to listen,” said Lucy Sturgess, a Denver designer and member of the city’s jam band scene.
“He still has so many supporters,” she said. “I have seen it in the scene back east and here and the apologists make me sick. It’s either the dude throws great parties, or has good drugs, or is talented or owns a fun bar so no one cares that they are predators.”
Jay Bianchi, photographed at So Many Roads Brewery in Denver in 2021. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
The Colorado Musicians Union, which organized a protest at So Many Roads in June 2021 and has criticized the Denver Police Department for not aggressively following up on the allegations, said that “because of regular delays in legal action, we’re reminded of the importance of worker solidarity, belief in victims, and the necessity to self-organize safe workplaces and places of enjoyment.”
Police have arrested or issued warrants for Bianchi’s arrest nine times in Denver and Boulder over the past three decades, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Most were for misdemeanors, such as a 1991 traffic violation and a 2007 misdemeanor assault charge, the latter of which was dismissed.
Amid more convictions — including possession of dangerous drugs (cannabis concentrate) and driving while ability impaired in 2010 — Bianchi was cited on April 24, 2020, by Denver police for opening Sancho’s in violation of the city’s COVID-19 mandates, and for “hindering an investigation.”
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After closure mandates from Denver Police Department stings, Bianchi posted on Facebook that So Many Roads Brewery — where he’s been known to bartend and promote shows despite saying he was stepping down from co-ownership — would close permanently in January.
The bar has remained open, however, and still has shows booked through June, according to its website, and weekly themed nights through September.