CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A judge recently announced the sentence for a man who pretended to be a fire inspector to disable Castle Rock businesses' security systems and later steal from them.
Douglas County District Court Judge Theresa Slade sentenced Michael James Loupe, 47, to 20 years in prison on Oct. 18, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Loupe broke into four restaurants in a single night in February 2020, but police were able to track him down after Department of Corrections employees said they recognized him from a Crime Stoppers alert, according to the district attorney's office.
During the investigation, authorities learned that Loupe had disarmed the buildings’ alarm systems by posing as a fire inspector earlier in the day, police said.
Loupe, who was a convicted felon on parole at the time, was arrested and charged. He has a criminal history of theft, burglary and robbery.
Authorities learned he had recently been serving a sentence at the Rifle Correctional Facility where, as a prison trustee, he examined fire alarm systems and ran tests of the alarms, according to the district attorney's office.
He pleaded guilty on Oct. 13, 2021 to one count of second-degree burglary, one count of third-degree burglary and one count of criminal impersonation. He faced other charges, but they were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
“What this defendant did was economically harmful to the businesses he targeted, but it was more insidious than that alone,” said Deputy District Attorney Joel Zink, who prosecuted Loupe. “He also attacked our trust for one another as community members. This sentence holds him accountable for his manipulative actions and serves as a warning to others who would seek to do the same.”