Couple accused of squatting in vacant Colorado condo for a month
A 27-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man, described by police as boyfriend and girlfriend, were arrested last month after a neighbor heard noises coming from what was supposed to be a vacant condominium.
That neighbor called 9-1-1 to report the noises on Dec. 3. She said she had heard sounds coming from the apartment above her Silverthorne residence since Halloween, although she did not see anyone coming or going from the unit.
Responding officers from the Silverthorne Police Department were unable to enter the unit. With the condo owner's permission, officers kicked down the door to the unit and found it "generally trashed," as stated in an arrest affidavit.
"There was food and trash strewn about in the living room, dining room and kitchen. Most of the kitchen cabinets were open and the kitchen was a mess," an officer described in the affidavit. "There was also randomly knocked over furniture in the kitchen and dining room."
The officers examined the front door. It had been glued and taped shut from the inside. The deadbolt had also been modified with a screwed-in piece of wood that kept it from unlocking, as stated in the affidavit.
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In a bedroom, the officers also found the first of three methamphetamine pipes or bongs, a white powder that tested positive for meth, a wallet belonging to containing a love letter signed by "Veronica," and another letter addressed to "Veronica Kanter" that included the name "Axel Garcia-Alejandro" in its text. The affidavit described the pair as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Burglary tools were found on a living room table.
The officers also discovered the balcony door unlocked, fresh snow swept from the railing, and an impact mark in the snow below it. Two sets of footprints led away.
The officers tracked the footprints through the neighborhood. But the tracks - covered by fresh, wind-blown snow - disappeared.
The officers gathered evidence and refreshed their recent history of arrests with Kanter. Online court records show Kanter has four active cases for traffic and drug violations in Clear Creek, Lake, and Summit counties. Two of those involved active warrants for her arrest at the time.
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In talking with the neighbor, officers learned she had taken a picture of Kanter in the complex's sauna during a previous trespassing call. But the neighbor did not connect Kanter to her neighbor's unit at the time.
Also among the evidence gathered was video from the unit owner's surveillance system. Per the affidavit, Garcia-Alejandro, identifiable by his distinct tattoos shown in a booking photo from an arrest in August in Grand County. Garcia-Alejandro was seen stopping in front of the lockbox for the vacant unit on Oct. 31 at 7:30 a.m. Garcia-Alejandro looked both directions down the hallway, then reached in and retrieved the keys. He knocked the unit's door, looked back and forth again, and entered the unit, according to the affidavit.
In all, the surveillance system recorded Garcia-Alejandro entering the unit 45 times and Kanter 41 times during the month of November.
Garcia-Alejandro was arrested at a bus stop in Frisco exactly a week after the neighbor called police. Kanter was arrested that same day.
Both were jailed on two felony counts of burglary and criminal mischief, misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia, and more than 40 counts each for misdemeanor trespassing. They have separate hearings in January in Summit County court.