Sheriff encourages cop killer to be denied parole

For a fifth time, Andrew Lechuga Salinas, a man convicted of killing Claremont Police Chief Greg Lange, will have a parole hearing on April 11.
Salinas is serving a life sentence for brutally murdering Lange in July 1988. Lange responded to a late-night domestic disturbance near his home in Claremont. He never made it back home.
Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose, on Monday, posted a letter to Facebook he sent to the Department of Corrections encouraging others to do the same.
“I would respectfully ask that the panel deny parole or early release of any kind for Salinas.
Andrew and his brother Robert brutally beat, shot, and murdered Chief Greg Lange from the Claremont Police Department in 1988,” Rose wrote in his letter.
Rose explained he was known locally as “Greg,” and had only served a couple of years as chief before being killed.
According to Rose he had “been working hard to build trust between the community and police.”
“Greg risked his life that night to help a young woman and her five-month-old baby girl during a domestic with Andrew, a domestic that involved the threat of a firearm and discharge of the firearm in their home,” Rose wrote. “Greg did not hesitate to respond to help. He did not wait for back up. He knew he needed to respond immediately to help.”
Rose in his letter explained how Lange “radioed that he was enroute, knowing full well that assistance by county deputies was likely several minutes away, and encountered Andrew first.”
“Robert then joined in, and the two brothers overpowered Greg, beat him with a
shovel, and Andrew shot him. Greg was helpless at that point due to the severity of the beating,” Rose wrote. “He was no longer a threat to the brothers. However, Andrew made the decision to shoot Greg point blank range in the back to ensure he was dead. To ensure he would not be able to identify who did this to him.”
According to Rose, Salinas “completed his first 20 years of incarceration by conspiring with other convicted murderers to try and tunnel out of a Stillwater prison, actually getting 25 feet out from the building before being detected by prison authorities.”
“If this was his behavior after 20 years of incarceration, he obviously has not rehabilitated at all. Robert Salinas served his entire sentence,” Rose wrote. “Andrew should do the same. He chose to beat Greg. He chose to shoot Greg. He also chose to shoot Greg a second time. Andrew didn’t have to take that last shot — he took it because he wanted Greg dead. Andrew’s actions sentenced Greg’s wife to a life without her husband, and their 12-year-old son to life without a father. As a concerned citizen, and in the interest of public safety.”
Since Salinas was sentenced prior to a change in law that added “without a chance of parole” to the life sentence, he potentially qualifies for parole.
Salinas previously had a parole hearing in 2023 and was denied parole.
In 2018 Salinas was moved to a lower-risk prison after action taken April 14 by a Parole Review Board consisting of the state’s corrections commissioner and others.
Lange’s widow, Sue Lange, and her family said at the time. “We’re OK with what has happened. He will still be behind bars.”
He is currently behind bars at Lino Lakes.
Rose is hopeful, the fifth time, will go similar to the other four hearings, and he won’t be released.
“Justice demands that he spend every remaining day of his life in prison,” he said.
Those interested in writing a letter ahead of the hearing can do so by visiting officerdownmemorialpodcast.com/support-the-lange-family.