{"id":29772,"date":"2024-01-10T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-police-find-13-alleged-intruders-hiding-inside-former-red-snapper-restaurant\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:03:19","slug":"durango-police-find-13-alleged-intruders-hiding-inside-former-red-snapper-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-police-find-13-alleged-intruders-hiding-inside-former-red-snapper-restaurant\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango police find 13 alleged intruders hiding inside former Red Snapper restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Derrill
Derrill Macho, owner of the former Red Snapper restaurant building in Durango, looks over bedding and trash on Tuesday. Thirteen people, including a child, took shelter in the building earlier this week in downtown Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Thirteen people, including a child, took shelter in the former Red Snapper restaurant earlier this week in downtown Durango, according to the Durango Police Department.<\/p>\n

The alleged intruders, some of whom are believed to be unhoused, included eight men, four women and a child, according to police. The adults ranged in age from 24 to 42 years old. The child was believed to be about 9 years old, according to a police spokesman.<\/p>\n

\n

Those arrested<\/h4>\n

Florentia Lee, 36Susan Tormoehlen, 41Erik Carney, 29Debra Doane, 34Tyler Fleury, 24Tyrone Yazzie, 42Keith Camps, 38Casey Chapman, 38Anthony Montoya, 32Evan Garfield Jr, 37Zion Spencer, 31Jamie Muir, 31<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Police took 11 of the 13 people into custody and booked them into the La Plata County Jail on suspicion of felony burglary and misdemeanor trespassing. A 31-year-old woman was cited and released, along with the child, police said.<\/p>\n

Police arrived around 5:45 p.m. Monday to find multiple people living inside the vacant building.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers attempted to call out the people inside, but none responded to the officers\u2019 requests, requiring them to go into the business to locate and identify the people inside,\u201d according to a news release from the police department.<\/p>\n

Upon searching the building, officers found \u201csignificant evidence\u201d of drug use, including syringes, foil and other drug paraphernalia. The alleged trespassers set up makeshift tents and beds on two levels: the main level that used to house the restaurant, and the basement level where supplies and equipment were stored.<\/p>\n

\"Drugs
Drugs and paraphernalia were found throughout the building of the former Red Snapper restaurant on Tuesday. Thirteen people, including a child, took shelter in the building. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Police believe the 13 people had been living in the building for at least a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that those inside were allowing other unknown subjects into the building for the purpose of using drugs in a concealed area,\u201d police said in a news release.<\/p>\n

The alleged squatters were first identified by an upstairs tenant who saw people walking next to the building and accessing the closed restaurant at 144 E. Ninth St., said Derrill Macho, the building owner, in an interview Tuesday with The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One or more upper-level tenants also noticed odors of smoke, perhaps from cigarettes or drug use, he said.<\/p>\n

Macho was notified of the intruders by a fourth-floor tenant, he said.<\/p>\n

He provided the Herald <\/em>with a tour of the building on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The former restaurant is largely intact and undamaged. But the alleged intruders stripped seat cushions from the booths and used them as beds throughout the building. At least one person set up a bedroom in the front grill area of the restaurant. Several other makeshift bedrooms were set up downstairs, including in a walk-in cooler, various storage areas and other hideaways characteristic of a historic building.<\/p>\n

\"Artwork
Artwork inside a walk-in cooler at the former Red Snapper restaurant Tuesday in Durango, where 13 people, including a child, took shelter. Durango police suspect the intruders had been there for at least a week. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some dwelling areas had fake $20, $50 and $100 bills strewed about. The bills say \u201cCopy\u201d or \u201cFor Motion Picture Use Only,\u201d but otherwise look authentic. Such bills can be purchased online and have been illegally passed<\/a> in recent months at local businesses, according to police.<\/p>\n

Macho believes the men living in his building used a 5-gallon bucket as a \u201cbathroom,\u201d while the women used an employee bathroom in the basement. The so-called women\u2019s bathroom has a sign on the door that reads, \u201cClean bathroom after each use! Sink, toilet, mirror, etc.\u201d The sign was put up by the alleged trespassers, Macho said.<\/p>\n

The basement was littered with trash, backpacks, blankets, sleeping bags and snacks. There were fresh bananas, orange peels and snack-size bags of chips. A banjo sat among the piles of personal items.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There was plenty of evidence of drug use, including pipes, syringes and unsmoked marijuana. Several light bulbs had been taken apart to be used as heating chambers for illicit drugs, which is then inhaled through a straw. Liquor bottles, big and small, were strewed about. Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, also was among the refuse.<\/p>\n

Macho said the inhabitants were fairly neat, referring to the fact that they didn\u2019t cause any lasting damage to the building itself. But he called a professional cleaning company to obtain a quote for cleaning up the mess.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s fairly sympathetic to the unhoused residents, saying he was adopted as a child and didn\u2019t always have an easy life. But he is strongly opposed to drug use inside his building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just wanted to get out of the cold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The inhabitants are suspected of gaining access by jimmying a locked door.<\/p>\n

\"Fake
Fake money is scattered on the basement floor, along with clothing and trash, at the former Red Snapper restaurant on Tuesday. Thirteen people, including a child, took shelter in the building earlier this week in downtown Durango. Durango police suspect the intruders had been there for at least a week. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Police Department recommends building owners and managers find a way to monitor activity in their buildings, either through an active alarm system or by doing frequent in-person checks.<\/p>\n

Macho said he walks through his building about once a week with his dog. He urged others to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I\u2019m downtown, I just walk through here. It takes me five minutes,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 You\u2019ve got to monitor it, especially now. You\u2019ve got cold weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could sit here all day long and say the city should do more for homelessness and all that crap,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s certain things you should do, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suspects include eight men, four women and a child<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,314,28,611,450],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-downtown-durango","tag-headlines","tag-homelessness","tag-restaurant-and-catering"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80855,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29772\/revisions\/80855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29772"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}