“All three of us looked at the mirror in the shower funny when we first (moved) in,” tenant Jim Waters said. “Our assumption was maybe it was a shaving mirror.”
It wasn’t. When Waters noticed the mirror fogged over, rendering it useless for shaving, he investigated.
  
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It was a two-way mirror, one providing a perfect view of the shower stall from a maintenance closet for the tri-plex’s water heaters. The maintenance closet exits directly to the outside and a combination lock is in place on the outer door. The basement unit has a storage hatch that connects to the storage closet. Waters said tenant access should have been blocked, but wasn’t, and he went inside.
Waters said he found a section of loose insulation tucked behind the water heater. When he pulled it free, he discovered a piece of black cloth tacked over a 10-inch hole. When he lifted the cloth, he was stunned to be looking into his own shower.
“You can see everything from the top of the spigot to where the bathtub nozzle is. You can definitely see everything in the shower there,” Waters said. “... It was just a viewing window into the shower.”
The size of the hole was enough to allow someone to put his or her full face against the opening.
Light behind a two-way mirror will allow people on both sides to see one another, but the maintenance area was altered to block all light that would have exposed the set up.
Waters said windows that should’ve let light into the maintenance area had been blocked with cardboard, plywood and more black cloth.
Montrose Police Chief Tom Chinn confirmed his department received a report from Waters and said the investigation continues. No one knew when the two-way mirror might have been installed, or by whom.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Waters said that as he and his roommates packed up to move to a different residence, one of the women glanced at the four-panel mirror in her bedroom, and noticed the top panel was slightly darker.
“She was like, ‘no way,’ but, sure enough,” Waters said.
The tenants found another black cloth behind the top panel, and, when they lifted it, a 6-inch hole in the drywall.
“It literally looked down to where the bed was set up for the gal that was staying in that room,” Waters said.
They again contacted the police, who responded and made a report.
“According to the police officer, there wasn’t much really they could do, because we didn’t catch someone peeking in there. Nonetheless, (the mirrors) were there,” he said.
The property manager refunded their money, Waters said, even the $25 application fee, and he and the women moved to a completely different residence.
“It was definitely a very sketchy set-up. We found the two-way mirrors yesterday and we cleared out today (Friday),” he said.
He said the property manager assured him the peepholes would be plastered over and other units checked.
“He was just as shocked as we were in finding it,” Waters said.
He said the peepholes were created before he and his roommates moved in less than a week ago.
“But even so, it’s set up professionally enough that somebody knew what they were doing when they set up these viewing holes. It was very intentionally done,” Waters said.
“The mirrors were installed with the intent of using them as a free peep show. ... At least we found it in the first week we were there, rather than two months down the line.”
gunny wrote on Jun 7, 2009 10:24 PM:
knows the story wrote on Jun 6, 2009 10:19 AM:
bhalfnote wrote on Jun 6, 2009 9:46 AM:
buddy2 wrote on Jun 6, 2009 9:25 AM:
L-A-W-S-U-I-T ???? "
More Info wrote on Jun 5, 2009 7:22 PM:
Giving info wrote on Jun 4, 2009 10:11 AM:
Fred wrote on Jun 3, 2009 7:58 AM:
Who, What, Where, When, Why and How – Journalism Fundamentals 101 "
OhMy wrote on Jun 2, 2009 5:54 PM:
bhalfnote wrote on Jun 1, 2009 9:49 PM:
Perhaps you're not a renter but consider if this happened to your wife, girlfriend,sister or daughter. Would you find it newsworthy then? Wish the article would have named the property management company that manages that house. Now all landlords are under suspicion------way to go Daily Press. It may come out soon if the police do a good job with the investigation. "
Just Me wrote on May 31, 2009 11:25 PM:
hmmm wrote on May 31, 2009 5:35 PM:
Is there nothing else going on of value in town other than a peeping tom story dominating the front page?!? "
Jen wrote on May 31, 2009 3:50 PM:
Native wrote on May 31, 2009 1:55 PM:
H. Craig Bradley wrote on May 31, 2009 4:34 AM:
I worked in the Federal Government for 10 years, four of them with the White River National Forest in Rifle, Colorado. I never saw anyone while at work that I would want to be looking at after work, particularly up close like that.
Perhaps the apartment maintainence staff are pervs. Maybe it was intended to intimidate. Interesting the police said it was not a crime as long as nobody was caught "peeping". "