Denver Housesitter Charged With Theft
By Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver police have charged a young housesitter with theft after the family she was housesitting for returned home and said they found several thousand dollars worth of their belongings missing.
"Someone was going through the house looting the place," said Chad Burk, who rents a loft in lower downtown Denver.
In December, Burk planned to take his wife and daughter on a vacation to Hawaii over the Christmas holidays. Needing someone to watch their home and their dogs, they used the Care.com website to find potential housesitters. Burk said they interviewed several but settled on Erica Schmidt, 22, saying she came with good referrals. The family left Schmidt in charge and jetted off to Hawaii.
They say the trouble started within days when one of their neighbors texted them saying there had been "late night dance music blasting until 3 a.m. and Taylor Swift coming through my walls all day ... thought you should know what is going on in your absence," wrote the neighbor.
When they returned home Dec. 28, Burk said their two-bedroom loft was in disarray.
"Basically the house was a mess. It was like an army stayed here and used all the provisions," he said.
Burk said after cleaning up, his family began to notice belongings were missing, including a Burberry scarf, a Tiffany necklace, a Burberry purse and other expensive items. When they asked Schmidt about it, she texted that one of her friends accidentally took the expensive scarf:
Oh my gosh I found it!!! I told my best friend to check for it and it was mixed in with her bag from when we got ready for the Nuggets game. It must have fallen near her bag by the front door.
The next day, Schmidt returned the missing scarf, according to the Burks. But Chad Burk said they thought the explanation was "ridiculous."
When other items didn't reappear, they contacted Denver police, who filed a petty theft charge against Schmidt. She is due in court in February.
When CBS4 contacted Schmidt at her home, she said "There is a huge misunderstanding so we are going to court about it ... huge misunderstanding and I am very upset that we are having to deal with this."
Asked if she had done what she was accused of, Schmidt said "I am innocent in this. ... I did not steal any of their belongings."
She declined to provide further information, saying she would follow up later with CBS4. That never happened, despite repeated calls and emails sent to Schmidt.
Care.com issued a statement to CBS4 saying:
We are dismayed by this incident and regret that this family has had a bad experience. The safety of our community is of paramount concern to us and as soon as we were made aware of this matter, we removed and permanently banned the caregiver from our site. We have proactively reached out to local authorities to provide whatever information we can.
Chad Burk said his family is beyond disappointed.
"We are never going to leave our house to someone again," he said.
CBS4 contacted an attorney representing Schmidt on Monday night. He said he had "no comment" and then hung up.
CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass has been with the station more than 30 years uncovering waste, fraud and corruption. Follow him on Twitter @Briancbs4.
