Please note that multiple vehicles have been broken into near Little Eiger in Clear Creek Canyon since December 2007. I am aware of at least 4 vehicles, 2 of which were broken into on December 15th and two this past Wednesday, February 6th. Two early in the morning and two late at night. All were ice climbers. The criminals appear to be going solely after cash, credit cards, etc as they left all other valuables (phone, ipod, etc) in the vehicle. The criminals then made there way to Blackhawk where they used the stolen credit cards, etc.

Does anyone have similar reports? Does anyone have any additional information that might help with the investigation?

If so, please post AND contact Luke Ligrani with the Blackhawk Police at 303-582-0503.

Lets put an end to this and find these bastards!

Climbers Beware!

Someone broke into my truck in December and used my credit card at the same casino in Blackhawk!

Here is a website with a few pictures of guy who used the stolen credit card. www.helpcatchthisguy.com

Thanks to Chris for setting up the website.

Please pass the pictures along to your friends.

The kid sure looks like a douche.


The California girls that got their rental car broken into had sent me an e-mail that they were visiting. Angelina was one of the girls. She just replied to my message to see if it was them and it was. Despite the hassle, they had a good trip. Sucks.

nice site and pics, good luck catching him

Thought I would add that someone broke into a car parked across from the New River Wall today. Four nice girls out visiting from CA had quite a suprise when they got back to their car and saw the window broken. It didn't look like they had taken any of their stuff, an Ipod was left in the consol, and their wallets were rifled through but left and their cash was stolen. What sucks was that they were up at the Highlander crag, and if they had parked 50 feet farther their car would have been in view all day.

Seems like leaving your car unlocked and empty might be a good idea until these theives move on, or are caught.

It's time some police conducted a sting operation. This is frequent enough that they would hit paydirt.

doesnt matter if the vehicles are in view.

i watched my ladders get stolen from my van while i was up at Doghouse last fall. These two f*ckers took $800 worth of stack ladders from my van as i was runnin down the hill in my flipflops. could not get there in time, and it did not phase them that i was yelling at them. got their plate number and threw a rock at their car as they drove off. cops couldnt do anything.

who does that to a window cleaner? thats like taking a brush from a painter. had to replace the ladders, and cancel the job i had the next day. hope they needed them more than i did.

I've made it a practice to always put my wallet in my climbing pack, even for those after work sessions. Maybe the worthless Jeffco Open Space rangers could do some patrolling in CCC.

Darren, if you had a license plate on those thieves you could have gone down to the DMV and paid a few $ to get the registration information of the vehicle owner. You can still do it, you know.

Sunday 3-2-08 at the base of Mickey's my trucks window got smashed.
GAME ON!
I think its time for a set up if you know what I mean.

Like just now?

The question is, would we as frustrated recreationists be in trouble for hiding in the bushes with a pellet gun?

I'm not sure what the solution that doesn't involve us getting an assault charge. It's pretty clear that the police don't care enough to help.

Heck, I've got nothing going on today. How about some climbing and a good old ambush.

Is there still ice in the canyon? I just woke up but could probably be there by 1:30 if you're serious.

I'm basically unarmed. I do occasionally have a weaponized vapor of somewhat digested foods. Think that would work?

yup, this morning at about 10am.
The bastards didn't get anything mainly because there was nothing to steal.
As far as it goes though an ambush sounds really good.
You could drag em down under the highway in that over sized culvert and beat the living shit out of them for all I care.
Let the cops do the math at that point!
Unfortunately I'm out of the loop for the remainder of the day though.
Maybe next weekend I can do some hunting.
PS: the ice was hammered.

I climbed all day yesterday overheating with no shirt on. I'd just assumed there was no ice left.

I have an older truck worth only about $2000. If the MP folks take up a collection to replace it with something of similar value, I would be OK with packing it full of dynamite and a detonator on the window.

Of course a truck worth only $2000 might not attract attention. I'll be sure to leave an ipod on the dashboard.

Probably cheaper than hiring Walker Texas Ranger to take care of the problem.

That's total crap. We as climbers own that canyon. we are there more than anyone. I think we need to take ownership for what is ours. I think a climber sting operation is a great ideal. Maybe get the whole damn militia together and set up a US 6 blockade. Let all the gambling fools take that wast of a road off I-70.

Not to long ago we were at Wall Of the 90's and some people were looking in the windows of my car. I hit the panic button and we all started yelling and throwing rocks at the criminals. Luckily nothing was harmed.

I like the idea of leaving an IPOD on the dash and hiding someone in the backseat with a billyclub!

This may sound simple, but what about printing flyers and putting them on everyone's windshield that says, "You are being videotaped!" or "Due to recent thefts, Clear Creek Canyon is under Video Surveillance!"

I was thinking that exact same thing with the notes. Do you think they would read them?

From the sounds of it, more than one person is breaking into cars there. They might all be friends or needle-buddies though. So if we get one or two, it might just get them all.

Are there any target vehicles? I have an old beater and rusty truck that looks like 7 immigrant workers are about to jump out of and start pouring concrete. Is it newer cars getting jacked?

As satisfying as it would be to dish out some texas justice on those guys, I'd prefer to just park and only worry about the random boulder crushing my car.

I don't know any of you guys in this thread but I'm local and want to climb more in that canyon. If you want to make some plans, count me in.

Bring it!

<<< Invalid image id: 106115716 >>>

How do you make sure to catch the punks before they drive off? There are not a lot of great places to hide near those pullouts.

I realize that this is going to sound fussy to some of you, but it bares saying:

These break-ins are a real issue, and there is also a real chance that it will eventually come to blows for someone, so I would be careful about posts that advocate violence on any level. You might mean it in jest, but if someone really does get assaulted and injured, those who posted admonitions of violence might be among the first investigated by the police.

Standard Internet Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer

I like the idea of catching these guys, so I hate to throw cold water on the posse. But. To catch these guys you can't bust them for looking in car windows and trying the door handle. They have to break in, meaning someone has to sacrifice their car's window. And even then, they haven't done anything worse than vandalism. So you need to let them take something to up the charges, something of real value. So now you're sacrificing a wallet with cash/credit cards. It sounds like these guys are partial to credit cards. So to really get them, they need to pass the credit cards. At this point, it turns into a sting best left to the police.

If you catch them in the act and try to stop them, you run the risk of things going bad, and possibly having charges filed against you. Possibly you could get charged for illegally detaining the thieves. Local laws vary here, so be very careful. In the end it may not be worth the potential hassle/danger for the meager charges you're likely to get against these guys.

I hope you can get the police to investigate this - but unfortunately most departments don't have the manpower to put the resources of CSI on a case with a small dollar value. Sucks, and I'd be screaming bloody murder if it were my car or credit card, too. Someone, with my bank's complete cooperation, withdrew over $1,000 from my bank account a few years ago. I got my money bank, but as far as I know they never caught the thieves, despite the fact that they were targetting locals and it was suspected it was via a large local business.

File complaints. Get business cards from the PD and follow up with credit card reports. If they're really running the cards through the casino, they've probably been caught on video. If you see something suspicious, like someone casing cars, call the cops. Try to get a license plate number and descriptions of the thieves and their vehicle.