Dispute between neighbors in Yoder end with both sides facing charges
Nicole Mallery and her husband Courtney, own a 640-acre ranch in rural Yoder.
The couple says they love living there and even fed their neighbors during the pandemic, but now they say they feel unwelcome in their own community.
"We have been terrorized on our property," Nicole said.
They say it all started with a dispute with their neighbor Teresa Clark.
They say the two families had been feuding over who owns Truckton Road, an easement road that leads to both the Mallery and Clark properties.
The Mallerys say they own it, but it is the only access to Teresa Clark's property.
Arrest affidavits say El Paso County does not maintain this easement as a road.
Nicole says other neighbors got involved in the dispute and it turned ugly, as they were the victims of racist attacks.
"We are stopped. We are harassed. We are chased. We are followed. There's been spray paint where they put "nigger" on items," she said.
The Mallerys and Teresa Clark have filed numerous restraining orders against each other.
Court records show Teresa Clark was arrested in September for violating a restraining order filed by the Mallerys.
This week Nicole and Courtney Mallery were charged with felony stalking, tampering with a utility meter which is a misdemeanor, and theft under $50 which is considered a petty offense.
In the arrest affidavit, Theresa Clark claims the Mallerys have surveillance cameras on their property pointed at her house.
Surveillance cameras were taken from the Mallery property in a search.
Clark also says her surveillance video shows the Mallerys repeatedly driving behind her on Truckton Road, driving at a high speed on Truckton Road and stopping at her front gate.
The Mallerys maintain it is their road.
"They are alleging that we are stalking people for being on our own property," Nicole said.
It also references a video where the Mallerys stopped in front of Teresa's home and got out of their vehicle saying, "hands up, don't shoot."
Nicole Mallery provided a video of this incident to CBS News Colorado. She says she was collecting her cows that had gotten loose on Truckton Road and alleges that Teresa Clark was pointing a gun at her.
Cows are visible in the video as well as Nicole Mallery getting out of a vehicle with her hands up and saying "hands up, don't shoot. I'm just getting our cows," but the quality is too poor to show anything on Teresa Clark's property.
The affidavit describes another video in which Nicole Mallery was referencing items Clark should pack for Heaven over a loudspeaker.
CBS News Colorado does not have a video of this alleged incident.
The arrest papers also say Theresa provided deputies with a video showing a broken pickup truck window and tire marks leading from her truck to their Mallery property as well as pictures of the Mallerys making an illegal electrical connection to a transformer along with another video of Courtney Mallery taking Teresa Clark's trash can valued at $25 from the easement.
Nicole Mallery says she thinks her neighbors are monitoring them and pressing charges against them because of their race.
"I believe that it's being done because we are African American and I believe they're trying to steal our land from us," Nicole said.
CBS News Colorado did reach out to Theresa Clark through our sister station in Colorado Springs and interviewed her but was told she didn't want to talk to other media and she instructed them not to share her interview with any other media outlets.
The Mallerys say they called the El Paso County Sheriff's Office to report the racial harassment, but nothing has been done.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says their employees have handled the situation appropriately.
CBS News Colorado requested documents for all the calls for service involving the Mallerys and is still waiting on that paperwork.
