Ex-girlfriend accuses Nikos Hecht of serious transgressions in court affidavit
The Aspen Times
An affidavit making serious accusations against prominent Aspen developer and landlord Nikos Hecht also seeks to modify a protection order against him.
The affidavit was filed Wednesday in Pitkin County Court by Hecht’s 31-year-old former girlfriend. Hecht was arrested in July on suspicion of physically and verbally attacking the woman and was later charged with three domestic-violence-related misdemeanors in connection with the incident.
Hecht is set to go to trial for the charges Jan. 26. However, Pitkin County Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely in September set a hearing for Tuesday to determine if a protection order against Hecht should be modified to allow him to use alcohol or controlled substances. Hecht is currently allowed to consume those substances.
A call to the office of Hecht’s attorney, Pamela Mackey of Denver, on Friday seeking comment about the woman’s affidavit was not returned.
In the affidavit, Hecht’s former girlfriend asks the judge to modify the protection order to forbid Hecht from drinking alcohol and using controlled substances. She also wants him to have to submit to random blood draws that would be tested for drugs.
The woman became romantically involved with Hecht in late 2014 and lived with him from October 2014 to July 26, the affidavit states.
Hecht was arrested July 30 by Pitkin County sheriff’s deputies after the woman told them he threatened to kill her parents and then pushed her to the ground as she tried to leave his home in the 600 block of Owl Creek Ranch Road, causing her to hit her head on the concrete floor, according to an arrest warrant.
A friend of the woman’s also gave deputies a cellphone video that contained mostly an audio recording because it was recorded from a pocket. In it, Hecht can be heard threatening to cut the victim, followed by a commotion and the woman begging Hecht to “Stop! … Please don’t hurt me … Please … You just choked me!” according to the arrest warrant.
But 24 hours after they spoke with the woman, she backed off her initial comments and said nothing criminal occurred and that she’d been on prescription drugs and not thinking clearly when she first spoke to deputies, the warrant states.
Hecht is free on a $1,000 bond and was allowed to travel to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Hawaii earlier this summer, according to court documents. He is charged with third-degree assault, harassment and menacing.
Hecht and his father, Aspen attorney Andy Hecht, own a number of Aspen commercial properties, including the building that houses Little Annie’s Eating House and the Benton Building. Nikos Hecht also developed the Muse Building on East Hyman Avenue, where the top-floor penthouse sold for $15.8 million in November. He also was one of the owners of the Red Onion building, which recently sold for $18 million.
