AURORA, Colo — Aurora police arrested a 36-year-old man they said vandalized Tri-County Health Department offices numerous times between April and May.
Daniel Pesch has been charged with:
- One count felony criminal mischief.
- One count defacing property, a misdemeanor.
- One count of harassment, also a misdemeanor.
According to the arrest affidavit, Tri-County's Aurora office, located at 15192 E. Hampden Ave., had its windows either damaged or destroyed three separate times on April 15, April 18 and April 20.
The broken windows cases caused at least $5,000 in damages, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit says the Aurora office was vandalized another three separate times by someone writing vulgar messages in marker and spray painting on the windows. Those instances happened on May 2, May 6 and May 11.
On May 4, Tri-County's safety and security specialist sent police Facebook messages that were sent from Pesch's account, according to the affidavit. The message, dated May 2, read, "Hope you're enjoying put small businesses under. Enjoy your broken windows <expletives>."
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The affidavit says an Aurora investigator called and talked to Pesch on May 8. Pesch told the detective that he worked until 8 p.m. that night and would like a call-back then. The investigator said that a little before 8:30 p.m., an Aurora Police sergeant called to let him know that Pesch had been arrested at the Tri-County Health office by undercover officers who were working surveillance at the building.
Pesch resisted arrest and was taken to Aurora South hospital, according to the affidavit. An Aurora officer said medical staff had to give Pesch two doses of sedative because he was so combative. The affidavit says Pesch was not able to be interviewed at the hospital about the vandalism cases and that he was released from the hospital on separate, unrelated charges.
On May 11, Tri-County told police Pesch had sent them more messages through Facebook. One of the messages said, "Best part of your policy is that I can keep vandalizing the <expletive> out of your building and the cops wont do <expletive> about it lol," according to the arrest affidavit.
The final message to Tri-County from Pesch's Facebook account read, “Spray paint and broken windows are just the beginning <expletives>,” according to the affidavit.
An Aurora investigator spoke with Pesch over the phone on May 12. The investigator asked Pesch if he knew why he was calling. Pesch responded, "I think it’s about Tri-County," according to the affidavit.
Later in the phone conversation, according to the affidavit, the investigator asked Pesch to stop damaging Tri-County's offices multiple times.
Pesch replied, “No, they still haven’t got the message," according to the affidavit.
Pesch said repeatedly that he wouldn’t stop damaging the office and said, “They don’t deserve it," the affidavit says.
Pesch agreed to meet with police at their station the next morning, according to court documents.
About an hour after the phone conversation ended, an Aurora police officer, in a marked patrol car outside of Tri-County's offices, called the investigator to let him know that a man fitting Pesch's description had just walked by Tri-County's offices, saw the police cars and then left, according to the affidavit.
Tri-County's safety specialist emailed Aurora Police a new Facebook message sent to them from Pesch's account just after 8:30 p.m. on May 12, according to the affidavit. It read, "Cops can’t be posted at your building every night. I’ll get you, you <expletives>. All of you,” according to court documents.
On May 14, another Facebook message was sent to Tri-County that said, “Watch out <expletives>. It’s coming. You have destroyed lives. Payback’s going to be a <expletive>," according to the arrest affidavit.
An arrest warrant was issued for Pesch on May 14. He was taken into custody and is being held in the Arapahoe County jail on $10,000 bond.
Pesch's next court date is scheduled for June 23 at 1:30 p.m.
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