A 44-year-old Aspen man was ordered to stay away from his female neighbor Tuesday after he was arrested for allegedly entering her locked apartment twice in the past week, according to court documents.
Jonathan Quitasol faces one count of felony first-degree criminal trespassing. And while he denied to police officers that he was the one who entered the woman’s apartment, he admitted that his key also opened her door, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Pitkin County District Court.
The woman told police that her male roommate has been out of town and that about four days ago she was alone in the apartment when she heard someone open the locked door and come inside, the affidavit states. The woman said the person turned on all the lights, and she heard the person walk downstairs to where the bedrooms are located.
“The person then turned all the lights off and left the apartment,” the affidavit states. “She never saw the person.”
Then at about 2 a.m. Tuesday, the woman heard the person enter the locked door again, come downstairs and turn the lights on, according to the affidavit.
“She could see the light under her door and could hear the person breathing,” the document states. “This person then left the apartment without turning off the lights.”
The woman then called police and went upstairs, when she heard her neighbor’s door close, according to the affidavit. She then knocked on Quitasol’s door and told him what happened.
At that point, Quitasol “mentioned that his key opens her door lock as well,” the affidavit states.
Quitasol later told police he has known his key opens the neighboring apartment for about 10 years, according to the document.
Quitasol denied entering the woman’s apartment and became angry when an officers suggested he might have done so. However, the officer noted in his report that after he handcuffed Quitasol, he “never contested to me that he was being falsely arrested,” the affidavit states.
Quitasol has no criminal history, prosecutor Luisa Berne said Tuesday.
Pitkin County Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely entered a protection order forbidding Quitasol from contacting his neighbor and ordered him to enter a sobriety monitoring contract. He was ordered released on a $3,000 personal recognizance bond.
In other crime news:
• Aspen police arrested a “very intoxicated” 59-year-old man Monday night after he allegedly urinated in front of people outside Paradise Bakery, according to a police report.
A witness told police that Nathan Aldrich also allegedly yelled obscenities at a group of teenage girls and shouted at others waiting in line at the popular ice cream spot at the corner of Galena Street and Cooper Avenue just before 10 p.m., the report states.
An 18-year-old woman told police that Aldrich “pulled out his penis and began urinating in front of people,” according to the report.
In Pitkin County Court on Tuesday morning, Aldrich denied exposing himself or urinating in front of others.
“I was just having some fun, your honor,” he said. “I didn’t mean to insult anybody.”
Aldrich was charged with public indecency and harassment and released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond.
• An unknown person went behind the bar at Escobar on Friday and stole five credit cards, police said Tuesday.
The theft was reported about 8:45 p.m., though there has been no evidence that the cards had been used since they were stolen, said Linda Consuegra, assistant Aspen police chief.