BOULDER — Police on Monday arrested a Longmont woman they say knew the Nov. 10 armed marijuana robbery in Sunshine Canyon was going to happen, but failed to alert the victim.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office arrested Donna Lee Gritzo, 30, at her home around 10:30 Monday morning. The warrant deputies had obtained included six felony charges: second-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, aggravated robbery, first-degree assault, menacing, and theft of between $5,000 and $20,000.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, she Gritzo was arrested without incident, and bail on the warrant was set at $250,000.
The charges all stem from Gritzo’s alleged co-conspiracy in an incident that took place three weeks ago in the 5200 block of Sunshine Canyon Drive, in the foothills west of Boulder. The resident of that home, a marijuana grower named Perry Michael Elder, 45, told police that two men knocked on his door asking to buy some pot.
Those men — later identified as Garrett Lee Mendes and Jason Leonard Mesaros — allegedly told Elder they knew Gritzo, who worked at Elder’s grow.
An arrest affidavit detailed Elder had started rolling a joint when Mendes grabbed him and Mesaros pistol-whipped him several times, before firing a warning round into Elder’s sofa.
Elder told police the two men stole two pounds of pot and 15 pounds of marijuana plant trimmings worth up to $20,000.
Mendes and Mesaros fled the area in a white SUV and drove at high speed through the city of Boulder, before officers abandoned the chase on Colo. 128 near Arvada.
Later on Nov. 10, Mesaros led police on a second car chase, originating in Longmont and ending with officers from multiple agencies shooting and killing Mesaros in Brighton.
Mesaros was armed at the time he was shot and had hit several police vehicles throughout the chase, police said.
Mendes was pulled over for speeding a week later in Greeley, and arrested without incident. He is being held on $500,000 bond at the Boulder County Jail.
Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness
