A Durango man without a permanent residence has been arrested on suspicion of wandering onto at least three private properties.
Brendan Brady, 29, was arrested Monday on suspicion of first-degree criminal trespass, a Class 5 felony punishable by one to three years in prison and a fine of $1,000 to $100,000. Anyone who enters the dwelling – any part of someone’s residence – of another person knowing they didn’t have permission could be accused of first-degree criminal trespass, according to Colorado law.
Brady is suspected of entering dwellings near Overend Park, a city-owned open space where homeless residents have been known to stay.
He first wandered into a home in the 2600 block of Arroyo Drive around 11 a.m. Monday, according to arresting documents. The resident of the home told officers that a man with a scraggly goatee, gray sweatshirt and pants tucked into his boots “opened the front door of his residence, walked through the house and out the back door.”
The man appeared “out of it,” according to the property owner.
Less than two hours later, officers were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of Montezuma Place, about 2,000 feet from the first home, where another resident said he caught a man standing inside his garage, according to an arrest affidavit.
The resident thought the man was there to do maintenance and let the stranger into the residence. But when it became clear the man wasn’t there for work, the resident told him to leave.
“The male said, ‘You don’t want to mess with me,’ before leaving the residence,” according to arresting documents.
The resident told law enforcement he saw the man hide near trees before jumping a fence and walking toward the backyard of a residence in the 2400 block of Delwood Avenue.
Law enforcement arrested Brady lying on the ground in the backyard of the residence in the 2400 block of Delwood Avenue and booked him in the La Plata County Jail.
While incarcerated, Brady told law enforcement “he had been at a friend’s house when multiple people in tactical uniforms raided the house,” according to arresting documents. Brady said he was running from the people in tactical gear and was lying in the backyard because those people “told him to get down,” police wrote in an affidavit.
Brady said he heard the commands before police arrived.
“Neither of us (police officers) saw anybody else in tactical uniforms or anything of the sort,” police wrote.
bhauff@durangoherald.com
