Denver's Historic Elitch Theatre experiences several break-ins over 3 months after renovations

For the last 12 years, helping to rebuild the Historic Elitch Theatre has been a labor of love for Greg Rowley.

"We've spent about 20 years on the restoration process. It's been a long haul, but we've got it all repaired," said Rowley, who is the President of the Board of Directors for the Historic Elitch Theater. "The first phase was about $4.5 million, and that was just the exterior of the theatre."

The 134-year-old theatre has become a gathering place for fans of live theatre, movies, and memories.

"Last summer we had the first shows in 33 years," said Rowley. "This is our second summer of live shows, and it's about our third summer of programming here."

In the last three months, however, a new problem has taken center stage.

"We had a couple of indications that someone might have been in, but we didn't have a security system. We're a relatively poor nonprofit. We're an all-volunteer group," said Rowley.

Back in early April, Rowley says they noticed people were messing with the doors overnight, and even breaking them to get in.

"We did finally get some security cameras put in, and we quickly realized kids were getting in and they were doing it at least once a week," he said. "Some of those kids actually climbed the ladder and went out on the roof. [At] that point, we walked around the building to make sure some kid hadn't fallen off."

On April 28, it was the first time they were able to catch these juveniles on camera.

In a video shared by Rowley, you can see the kids entering through one of the back doors. Just moments later, after they left, Denver police officers entered the building with their guns drawn.

"It's not somewhere that kids should be exploring," he said. "It's disrespectful to all the people who love this space."

As the break-ins continue, Rowley says they installed eight more cameras, which is not something their nonprofit ever anticipated having to spend.

"It looks like the same kids, we don't know for sure, but it kind of looks like it might be the same kids doing it," he said.

During one incident that was recorded on July 13, the juveniles appeared to be looking at photos in the middle of the stage.

In another incident on July 22, the most recent one, the juveniles had set the alarm off inside the building, but they didn't appear to rush out of the building.

"They're coming in and exploring, but that's not learning anything. I would love to tell them the history, and actually tell them why this is important and why this theater is here," said Rowley.

In total, Rowley says their nonprofit has spent more than $5,000 to get these doors repaired.

"We kind of live paycheck to paycheck. I always tell people that we don't have paid staff partly because we have this beautiful building that costs us $68,000 to $80,000 a year just to keep it standing up right," said Rowley.

The Historic Elitch Theatre has received a lot of support on social media since these incidents took place, but Rowley is hopeful that more attention will help them and the police figure out who keeps coming in.

"There are a lot of people who cherish this space and want it to be respected," said Rowley. "No one needs to go to prison for this, but they do need to know that this is illegal."

Denver police say they are investigating the incident from April 28 and July 13, which were two of the incidents at the theatre they responded to. Anyone with information is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers.