SAGUACHE — La Garita residents came before Saguache County Commissioners Tuesday to complain about a problem with County Road 41G they say has existed for months, but really has been ongoing on some level since troubles with their neighbors began two years ago.

Kim Specht and Todd Rohr were involved in a shooting incident in 2018 with a near neighbor. The neighbor received a suspended sentence in the shooting, which Rohr says has permanently rendered one of his arms useless. Since then, they say, there have been a series of incidents occur that have caused them much distress and even made it impossible to get to their medical appointments.

Neighbors up the road from Specht and Rohr report the same problems. The culprit at the present time is roofing nails, scattered in their driveway and up and down County Road 41G “for months now,” Specht told commissioners. [Road and Bridge Director] Randy Arredondo walked the road and confirmed that someone had laid down a 5 gallons load of roofing nails.

She then reported she and Rohr are still having problems with the same neighbors shooting toward their home and it interferes with their respite and rehabilitation work with veterans. It also interferes with delivery people and service providers traveling to the area, she said.

Specht and Rohr maintain that they have repeatedly called the Saguache Sheriff’s Office and cannot get anyone to investigate the shooting problems or the nails in the road. She accused them of being rude and disinterested and refusing to provide them with reports on the incidents. Calls to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the FBI also have been fruitless, she added.

“If this happens to anyone else in this room, you are on your own; good luck,” Specht warned.
According to Specht, Sheriff Dan Warwick told her he had turned all the reports she and Rohr turned in over to CBI, but Specht said when she called CBI, one agent told her they had nothing on the case. She also complained that none of the incidents reported were forwarded to the District Attorney by the Sheriff’s Office for potential charges.

Specht said she is considering recalling the Sheriff, and Commission Chair Jason Anderson told her that he is an elected official, so she has the right to recall him.

“The Sheriff answers to voters in Colorado,” Anderson said. He did advise Specht that in Saguache County “there is some extremely rural property and people take care of their own problems,” noting it sounded more to him like “clashes with the neighbors – you can’t control your feuds.”
Anderson suggested that Road and Bridge address the roads, rake and fill 41G, and “let’s see what happens.”

Sheriff comments
Sheriff Dan Warwick spoke for over an hour to Specht and Rohr in his office following the meeting. While he said he doesn’t feel anything was resolved. He did address points brought up against him in the meeting.

He said he showed Rohr and Specht a stack of reports that had been sent to CBI and gave them the name of the agent working the case. He also said he has sent “probably a dozen” reports by Specht and Rohr to the district attorney’s office but has no control over whether or not the district attorney feels there is enough evidence to file a case in court.

“I’ve talked to the district attorney, CBI and the FBI and they said I am doing everything I should,” Warwick commented. “They can try to recall me, and I’m OK with that.” He said he has refused to go out and investigate some of the incidents reported because “They call about the same things over and over again,” things he cannot use to make any kind of case.

Warwick says he has agreed to go to the couple’s home and spend a day reviewing video footage they have captured regarding the nails in the road and shooting incidents. He also says that during one investigation of the nails in the road, he recovered a piece of evidence he forwarded to the CBI and feels it may help identify who is dumping the nails.

“I will try to work this out somehow,” he concluded.