The identical man who went to jail final 12 months for robbing the concession stand at Theatre Aspen in July 2019 admitted Monday he additionally stole three safes from Aspen Highlands greater than a 12 months earlier than the theft.
Yuri Ognacevic, 40, was serving his 270-day sentence within the Pitkin County Jail when an Aspen police detective and a prosecutor visited and requested concerning the safes, which have been discovered by a pair of intrepid leaf-peepers. On the time, Ognacevic denied any data of the safes stolen in April 2018 from the Aspen Highlands ticket workplace.
On Monday in Pitkin County District Court docket, he pleaded responsible to at least one second-degree housebreaking rely, and faces as much as six years in jail when he’s sentenced in January, although his plea deal doesn’t name for obligatory jail. The sentence will likely be as much as Decide Chris Seldin, who additionally sentenced Ognacevic to jail and 6 years probation for the concession stand theft.
“Responsible as charged,” Ognacevic mentioned by cellphone in a digital court docket listening to Monday when requested how he pleaded to the housebreaking cost.
Seldin requested him if he meant to commit theft when he entered the ticket workplace and whether or not that theft concerned “a secure at Aspen Highlands.”
“Appropriate, sir,” Ognacevic mentioned.
In each the concession stand and the theft of the safes, Ognacevic made off with a bit beneath $8,000 — about $7,700 from Highlands and $250 from Theatre Aspen. He threatened a 19-year-old girl working the concession stand with a screwdriver earlier than demanding cash.
If Seldin sentences Ognacevic to jail Jan. 3, it should mark his second stint in state jail. He was convicted of theft and given a four-year sentence within the early 2000s after he was recognized as a part of a crew of Aspen teenagers who dedicated a number of robberies and burglaries within the space.
Ognacevic, who grew up in Aspen, labored as a ski patroller at Aspen Highlands till January 2018, based on court docket paperwork. After the three safes have been stolen in April 2018, police reviewed video surveillance that confirmed a disguised man carrying a purple disposable glove as he repeatedly entered and exited a aspect ticket workplace door. A tip of the glove was discovered on the scene, although it was not examined by the state crime lab due to a backlog of DNA testing wanted for violent crimes.
Detectives didn’t make a lot headway within the case till October 2020, when a brother and sister trying to find the final colours of the autumn on the prime of McClure Cross found to 2 of the three safes that had been dumped. That location is 2½ miles from Ognacevic’s father’s home, which instantly made him a suspect, Aspen Police Det. Ritchie Zah has mentioned.
Zah was later in a position to persuade the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to check the purple glove tip, and it got here again matching Ognacevic’s DNA.
In different court docket information Monday:
• A person arrested twice for drunken driving in three days earlier this 12 months in Aspen’s downtown core pleaded responsible Monday to at least one rely of felony DUI.
Frank Safferwich, 53, would have confronted between two and 6 years in jail, although prosecutor Don Nottingham agreed that Safferwich received’t must face jail time when he’s sentenced in January.
Safferwich was arrested for DUI on Could 15 after an Aspen police officer pulled him over for driving the incorrect course down East Cooper Avenue, then once more on Could 17 after a drunken driving hotline caller alerted police to an apparently drunk man in his truck on Predominant Avenue.
Safferwich was convicted of drunken driving three earlier instances. Beneath Colorado legislation, an individual’s fourth DUI is charged as a felony.
• The daughter of a girl mentioned to be the ringleader behind a rip-off to steal 1000’s of {dollars} from a Snowmass Village condominium advanced admitted Monday to enjoying a job within the enterprise.
Erika Murillo, 29, of Silt pleaded responsible to felony theft and should pay about $5,600 in restitution to The Crestwood condominiums. In return for the plea, the DA’s Workplace supplied her a “deferred sentence,” that means that if she efficiently completes 18 months of probation the felony conviction will likely be wiped from her file.
“I ought to have identified higher,” mentioned Murillo, who appeared just about on the listening to Monday. “I had no motive to not belief my mom, however I ought to have identified higher.”
Selene Avitia — Murillo’s mom and the condominium advanced housekeeping supervisor — allegedly issued “ghost checks” to former staff or relations, then endorsed them over to herself. It’s unclear how lengthy the scheme lasted — Avitia was fired in October 2019 — although investigators documented greater than $27,000 in stolen cash.
Murillo will solely must pay again the cash that went by means of her checking account.
Avitia is in Mexico, mentioned Mark Rubinstein, Murillo’s lawyer, placing her out of attain of Aspen space legislation enforcement.
