Jack Herbst, 63, was arrested on March 9 for suspicion of felony criminal mischief and held on a bond of $10,000, due to driving a front-end loader through his next-door neighbor’s property because he was upset about an uncollected $80 debt, as reported by The Gazette in El Paso County.
Ron Morphis, of 36630 Bellemont Road, in Yoder, east El Paso County, is said to have incurred damages of approximately $250,000.
Morphis’ sister, Loranne McLaughlin, claims that her brother’s collection of restored antique cars and the home’s addition he was working on, including a new garage, has been destroyed.
McLaughlin recounted among the damage: A brick garage, a two-bedroom addition, a propane tank and farm equipment. A dozen elm trees, and both electrical and phone lines, were all ripped out by a chain that was attached to the front-end loader.
Of special note was the damage done to Morphis’ car collection – two campers, a trailer, a restored 1956 Willys Jeep and a 1949 Chevy pickup that he had inherited from his father – were all overturned by Herbst’s vehicle.
McLaughlin explained that the two had never had a problem before. She said, “Herbst lives on the property next to him.
Jack and my brother hayed together, they mowed together. When he lost part of his hand in an accident, my brother helped him out.”
It was all due to Morphis being $80 short in purchasing a trailer from Herbst for $400. Morphis could only pay $320 of
the price until his payday, which would have been March 11.
McLaughlin said that on March 7 or 8 Herbst left a chilling phone message for Morphis, “I want my $80 or I'm going to flatten everything.”
When Morphis came home from work on March 9 his home and property had been destroyed. First he called the sheriff and then McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said that her brother told her that, “He's destroyed my life, he's destroyed everything I owned.”
Herbst, under a sheriff’s questioning, attempted to deny that he had done the damage. He later confessed.
Deputies discovered the front-end loader’s tire tracks led from Morphis’ property back to Herbst’s employer’s property. Herbst works as a hired hand in another neighboring property.
McLaughlin said that Herbst told the deputies in his defense, “’I would have flattened the house but I didn't want to hurt the dogs inside.’ He told them ‘The government is after me, the creditors are after me and Ron owed me money. I got even.’”
Morphis has insurance coverage for his property’s structural damage, per McLaughlin, but nothing beyond that.
As Morphis has told McLaughlin that he cannot afford to cover the damage to the rest of his property, she is planning on starting up a “Ron’s Rebuild Fund” at American National Bank branches in Colorado Springs.
She hopes that donations received will help him to rebuild his home, and, his life.
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