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The man charged with flooding the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge in October was arrested Nov. 7 when he showed up for a court date on an unrelated criminal charge.
Glenwood Springs Police issued a warrant for the arrest of Khory Gagner, 30, on Oct. 15. When Gagner showed up for a scheduled court hearing for unrelated in Glenwood Springs on Nov. 7, law enforcement took him into custody, according to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
Gagner allegedly used a fire extinguisher to break a water pipe in the stairwell of the Hot Springs Lodge around 3:40 a.m. Oct. 14, which flooded several floors below, according to court documents.
Surveillance footage from the lodge shows a man, whom police identified as Gagner from previous contacts with law enforcement, entering the front door of the hotel around 3:30 a.m., and exiting through a different door around 3:40.
When police arrived at 3:42 a.m., they saw 1 inch of water on the fourth floor, and 5 inches of water on the third floor.
Director of Operations Kevin Flohr said. “He did it from the highest floor, flooding four of our levels on the east end of our building creating a massive amount of water damage,” Director of Operations Kevin Flohr told the Post Independent in October.
Carpets on the third and fourth floors were “completely soaked with water,” according to court records, and firefighters had to use squeegees to push water out of the third floor. The second floor ceiling was dripping water as well.
The police ruled out the possibility of a malfunction in the burst pipe at the top of the stairwell, and saw marks on the cap as though it had been hit with something.
The entire hotel had to be evacuated, and multiple witnesses said the heard loud banging sounds before the water started flowing.
A fire extinguisher, with dents on the bottom matching the cap of the water pipe, was found outside the hotel.
One witness told police that after the alarm went off, she looked out the fourth-floor balcony and saw someone hiding in the shrubs. The witness said the person was possibly drunk, and stumbled as he ran off.
Hotel staff initially estimated the cost of the damage was above $20,000.
Gagner’s criminal record is extensive. He has four other open felony cases in Garfield County, as well as a misdemeanor traffic charge in Jefferson County.
In 2008, Gagner pleaded guilty to his involvement in robbing two stores in the Roaring Fork Valley and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and four years probation.
Gagner also faced trouble when he was caught breaking into a Basalt restaurant and made a plate of nachos late one night in 2010.
Gagner’s active Garfield County cases include felony traffic violations, vehicular eluding, burglary and failure to appear for court.
He is currently being held in Garfield County jail on $10,000 bond.
