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Carbondale man arrested again for theft, allegedly stole copper scrap

Enrique Garcia Hernandez

A Carbondale man arrested in the spring for theft was charged Thursday with allegedly stealing a load of copper scrap from the driveway of a Snowmass Village home last week, according to court documents.

Enrique Garcia Hernandez, 48, now faces a second count of felony theft for the latest incident, which occurred Sept. 20 or 21, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Pitkin County District Court.

A construction contractor reported to Snowmass Village police Sept. 21 that he and a crew had removed copper siding from the roof of a home in Aspen and loaded it on to an open top trailer, the warrant states. The contractor said he parked the trailer in the driveway of a Snowmass Village residence on Spruce Ridge Lane on Sept. 20.



When he returned the next day, the copper, valued at between $3,000 and $5,000, was gone, according to the warrant.

A Snowmass police officer then alerted area scrapyards and received a call from Trinity Recycling in Glenwood Springs on Tuesday. The contractor and the officer inspected the copper at the scrapyard and the contractor positively identified the copper as the missing load, the warrant states.




Garcia Hernandez had received about $2,800 for one load of copper and another $638 for a second load. He was identified because he had to produce a Colorado driver’s license to be able to sell the copper, according to the warrant.

Garcia Hernandez has not yet been arrested for the latest theft.

He was arrested in April for allegedly stealing $4,700 in cash and between $15,000 and $20,000 in gold jewelry from a Basalt-area home he was helping to remodel.

The foreman on the job threatened to call the police if the cash and jewelry were not returned, prompting Garcia Hernandez to leave the site and later show the homeowner where the items were. The items were in places the homeowner had already looked, according to court documents.

Garcia Hernandez — previously referred to only as “Enrique Garcia” — encouraged the homeowner to count the money to ensure it was all there.

He was charged with felony theft in that case, which has not yet been settled.

jauslander@aspentimes.com