Sam Tabachnik
@samtabachnik.bsky.social
520 followers 130 following 30 posts
Investigative reporter with the Denver Post | formerly NBC News, Washington Post and New Orleans Times-Picayune | Long live TB12 | Send me your nicest comments: stabachnik(at)denverpost.com
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samtabachnik.bsky.social
Non-lawyers offering fraudulent legal advice has been going on for a long time.

But advocates and attorneys say we're seeing sophisticated scams targeting immigrants now more than ever as arrests, detentions reach record levels

Story w/@sethklamann.bsky.social

www.denverpost.com/2025/09/22/c...
Colorado immigrants are desperately seeking legal help. They often run into fake lawyers and other scams.
Kathia Blanco unwittingly joined a growing number of Colorado immigrants who have been scammed by people impersonating lawyers.
www.denverpost.com
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
samtabachnik.bsky.social
Every 15 days, Ruth Rivas and her fellow housekeepers received two checks.

This arrangement allows Telluride Ski & Golf to avoid paying all the overtime that Rivas and her colleagues were owed under Colorado wage and hour laws, she alleged in the legal filing.

www.denverpost.com/2025/09/04/t...
She worked 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Telluride-owned hotel wouldn’t pay overtime, lawsuit alleges
Despite being paid by two separate entities, housekeepers at Peaks Resort & Spa were effectively controlled by Telluride Ski & Golf, the lawsuit alleges.
www.denverpost.com
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
mattsebastian.com
The Denver Post's @elliottwenzler.bsky.social interviewed 5 former city employees laid off by Denver last month about what the loss of their jobs means for them and their families. “It felt horrible,” one said through tears. “I honestly thought I was a person who was going to retire from the city.”
From feeling betrayed to volunteering to leave, five former Denver city employees tell their layoff stories
On the other side of Denver’s city budget savings are laid-off workers who now face their own budget crises. “I can’t afford to be without a job,” Mikhail Vafeades told The Denver Post.
www.denverpost.com
samtabachnik.bsky.social
Colorado law prohibits landlords from evicting people who utilize voucher or subsidy programs solely over the nonpayment of utilities. Yet this phenomenon is happening frequently across the state, advocates and legal aid organizations say.

www.denverpost.com/2025/08/17/c...
Colorado law prohibits evictions over unpaid utilities. Advocates say landlords do it anyway.
Residents often don’t know their rights and lack legal representation, leaving them unable to adequately defend themselves in court against well-resourced landlords.
www.denverpost.com
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
mattsebastian.com
A study published this year by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy found just 57% of voucher recipients nationally have successfully used the rental assistance to lease a home — down from 65% in previous years // Story by @samtabachnik.bsky.social
Looking to use a federal housing voucher in Colorado? It’s a coin flip whether you’ll be able to redeem it
NYU’s findings come as housing agencies in Colorado and around the country are issuing few new vouchers this year amid budget constraints and uncertain federal funding.
www.denverpost.com
samtabachnik.bsky.social
One sheriff’s detective was part of the team that ran over one man and also fatally shot another.

Police reports and interviews show the detective, at his previous job in Routt County, was accused of tapping his ex-wife’s phone and making threats.

www.denverpost.com/2025/07/27/k...
Moffat County detective involved in violent encounters was previously accused of criminal behavior
People who had run-ins with Kurtis Luster said he shouldn’t have a badge to begin with.
www.denverpost.com
samtabachnik.bsky.social
In this rural Colorado town, violent police encounters have been on the rise in recent years.

Craig, pop 9k, has seen its only 3 police shootings in recorded history since 2023 and has paid at least 400k to settle excessive force claims in recent years.

www.denverpost.com/2025/07/27/c...
Police in rural Colorado plowed into a suspect who had his hands up. The undersheriff who gave the command has since been promoted.
Police shootings and excessive-force allegations have become increasingly common in recent years in Craig.
www.denverpost.com
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
sethklamann.bsky.social
A lot of really eye-popping details in this @samtabachnik.bsky.social piece about Craig’ police department, including: The police paid out two settlements to the same guy, 20 years apart, and then shot & killed him in a 3rd incident, when the man pulled a gun and told officers to shoot him.
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
mattsebastian.com
Denver Fire responded to 3,481 elevator rescue calls since the start of last year, and @denverpost.com reviewed the 30 addresses with the most elevator entrapments. In 33% of those cases, one or more of the elevators had expired certificates of operation // Story by @samtabachnik.bsky.social
How Denver allows faulty or inoperable elevators to keep trapping people
Elevators across Denver are trapping people inside or are otherwise inoperable, and conveyance regulators aren’t doing enough to ensure they’re working safely, a Denver Post investigati…
www.denverpost.com
Reposted by Sam Tabachnik
mattsebastian.com
Masked ICE agents grabbed a man at Denver's federal immigration court and pushed him into a women’s bathroom, throwing his partner to the floor, a witness tells @samtabachnik.bsky.social. Agents detained the man “very roughly, very violently” as their child watched in tears, the witness says
Man ‘violently’ arrested by ICE in Denver courthouse bathroom as young child watched, witness says
Immigration officers also detained, arrested, handcuffed and cited the legal observer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
www.denverpost.com
samtabachnik.bsky.social
A Montrose judge blocked the city from disbanding a homeless encampment.

Then the city fired her.

The move underscores Colorado’s deepening housing crisis and the lengths to which city officials will go to crack down on homelessness in their communities.

www.denverpost.com/2025/06/16/m...
A judge blocked a rural Colorado city from disbanding a church’s homeless encampment. Then the city fired her.
The firing prompted serious concern from church leaders and homeless advocates, who wonder whether the city is stacking the deck against them.
www.denverpost.com
samtabachnik.bsky.social
Previously unpublished court records detail life on the inside of the notorious Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose.

-Koch using YouTube to learn how to dismember bodies
-Extracting gold teeth to sell for Disneyland vacations
-Handing families random ashes

www.denverpost.com/2025/06/08/s...
What it was like to work at one of America’s most notorious funeral homes
Investigators unspooled a decade-long scheme by Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors owner, Megan Hess, and her mother, Shirley Koch, to sell hundreds of bodies and body parts.
www.denverpost.com