A Glenwood Springs woman was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly setting off a fire alarm while using drugs in a closed Aspen hotel.
The woman, 39, was picked up by Aspen Police around 11 p.m. outside of the Annabelle Inn, located at 232 W. Main Street, according to an affidavit. She is currently held in the Pitkin County Jail and has not posted her $1,000 cash surety bond.
On the night of the incident, a hotel property manager responded to the hotel's general alarm and saw the suspect running down the internal stairs of the hotel into the courtyard. She grabbed the woman by the arm and notified the police. The building's fire alarm was also triggered during the incident.
The property manager told police that when she had apprehended the woman, a gold straw, balled up tinfoil, and can of Coca Cola fell from the suspect's pocket. Police found the straw to be burnt and discolored, containing dark residue. They found a brown sticky substance inside of the tinfoil.
"From my training experience, I know that a burnt metal straw, like the one found on scene of the Annabelle Inn, is highly indicative of illegal drug usage," an Aspen Police Officer said in the affidavit. "A metal straw is often used to snort heroin or methamphetamine. Foil is used as a surface to heat up drugs and snort off of."
The suspect told the property manager that she had been in the inn's laundry room, according to the affidavit. The property manager said the laundry room smelled terrible "after (the suspect) had been smoking something in it."
The suspect told Aspen Police the situation was blown out of proportion; she said she had gotten cold waiting for a nearby bus and entered the inn to get warm and smoke her nicotine vape pen. Aspen Police verified that outside it was approximately 37 degrees and lightly snowing at the time of the incident.
Aspen Police said they have probable cause to believe the suspect committed felony second degree burglary, defined as knowingly breaking or unlawfully entering into a building with the intent to commit a crime against another person or property, according to the Colorado Revised Statutes. They also found probable cause that the suspect had possession of drug paraphernalia, a petty drug offense.
Conducting further research, Aspen Police found that the woman was the primary suspect in several Snowmass Village trespassing and burglary cases. She was also the suspect in a Basalt trespassing and theft case in 2024.
"(The suspect's) criminal history includes multiple charges and convictions for felony drug possession, drug paraphernalia, theft, burglary, and trespassing with the most recent arrest as of 08/31/24 where (the suspect) was convicted of her crimes," the affidavit states.
The inn had no other guests at the time of the alleged crime, according to the property manager.