The Town of Palmer Lake says Terry and Katrina Tolbert were arrested in connection with the theft of more than 4 million gallons of town water, some of it while residents were limited to watering by bucket. Both are due in district court on Dec. 3.
Two people have been arrested in connection with the theft of more than 4 million gallons of water from Palmer Lake’s municipal system, the Town of Palmer Lake said on Wednesday. In a press release, the town said an investigation it carried out with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office led to the arrests of Terry Paul Tolbert and Katrina Deanne Tolbert.
Investigators say the water ran through a buried pipe tapped into the line serving the Tolberts’ property on Highway 105, ahead of the meter that bills it. That account comes from the arrest affidavit, which KRDO13 Investigates reviewed and reported on Wednesday. According to KRDO, the affidavit describes a soldered copper T-connection on the service line before the billing meter, feeding irrigation fixtures and a yard hydrant, and alleges that the unmetered water was used to irrigate the property and supply livestock. Investigators estimate that 4,028,393 gallons went unbilled from November 2023 to Oct. 13, 2026, worth about $36,131.
The town’s release credits its water department, whose “updated internal procedures, enhanced monitoring, and improved meter verification” turned up the evidence. KRDO reported that the case began with an employee’s audit, which showed the town’s monthly losses rising from a few hundred thousand gallons to more than 1 million in October 2025, and that the losses stayed high even after crews found and repaired several leaks. On Aug. 8 the town’s water superintendent told the mayor and staff that he believed the distribution system had a leak and had hired a crew to survey the town for it, according to the resolution trustees adopted five days later declaring a water emergency.
On Aug. 27 the town put a separate meter on the line serving the property. From Sept. 14 to Oct. 13 it recorded 173,320 gallons, KRDO reported, while the household meters recorded 7,900.
By the day, that is about 5,800 gallons on the separate line and about 260 through the household meters, by the Independent’s calculation. The investigators’ full estimate averages about 3,700 gallons a day over nearly three years. A typical Palmer Lake account uses a small fraction of that: the town billed its 1,023 water accounts for 43.1 million gallons in 2025, according to the water department’s billing table, or about 115 gallons per account per day. The Environmental Protection Agency puts the average American family’s use at home at more than 300 gallons a day. The estimate works out to about 32 times what Palmer Lake’s average account was billed for.
The separate meter’s month fell inside the Stage 1 water emergency that trustees declared on Aug. 13, after Monument Creek, the town’s main surface source, ran dry in June and the town came to depend on its wells. Since then, outdoor watering has been allowed only on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and only by bucket or watering can of five gallons or less. On Wednesday the town’s website still listed the emergency as in effect.
The affidavit also recounts three earlier concerns about water use at the property, KRDO reported. A water department supervisor told police that a former operator saw an unauthorized connection ahead of the meter in 2020, that the department had a report in 2022 of fire hoses connected to a hydrant there, and that in 2023 he saw a yard hydrant running while the meter showed no use. The town sent a cease-and-desist letter; when staff returned a day or two later, the hydrant had been removed.
“This was more than a financial loss,” the release says. It warns that tampering with a public water system raises concerns about the system’s integrity, public health and safety, “including the potential for contamination.” According to KRDO, the affidavit says the tap had no check valve, the device that keeps water from flowing back into the public main, and describes a possible contamination risk if a main break caused backflow. KRDO reported that the affidavit does not say the town’s water was contaminated, and the town’s release does not report any contamination.
County parcel records list the 3.6-acre property, which lies inside the town’s limits, in both their names. Terry Tolbert holds an active Colorado master plumber’s license, first issued in 2012, according to state licensing records. Katrina Tolbert writes on the website of Tovah Homestead, a homestead business she founded that lists the Highway 105 property as its address, that the two married in 2001.
The affidavit lists five charges, KRDO reported: endangering a public utility, theft, criminal mischief, second-degree criminal tampering and tampering with a utility meter. When police asked for statements, according to the affidavit, Katrina Tolbert declined and Terry Tolbert said an attorney had advised him not to speak. The town’s release adds that “all individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.”
State court dockets list a district court criminal case for each: 2026CR5089 for Terry Tolbert and 2026CR5110 for Katrina Tolbert. Both cases have a hearing on Nov. 20, listed as a “Hearing on Advisement,” and a first appearance at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 3 at the El Paso County Judicial Building.
Sources & further reading
The Independent’s own coverage: In Palmer Lake, Outdoor Watering Is Now One Hour a Week, by Bucket (Aug. 14, 2026), on the Stage 1 emergency and what it requires of every user of the town’s water.
Town record: Press release, “Millions of Gallons of Water Stolen from the Town of Palmer Lake” (Nov. 4, 2026) · Resolution 30-2026, declaring a water emergency and imposing Stage 1 restrictions, with the water supervisor’s agenda memo, Board of Trustees packet, Aug. 13, 2026, pp. 100–103 · Water Department billing table, Board of Trustees packet, Oct. 8, 2026, p. 33 · “Stage 1 Water Emergency in Effect”, town homepage notice.
Court record: Colorado Judicial Branch docket search, 4th Judicial District, El Paso County, cases 2026CR5089 and 2026CR5110.
Other reporting: KRDO13 Investigates, “Palmer Lake couple accused of stealing more than 4 million gallons of town water”, by Paige Reynolds (Nov. 4, 2026), the source for every detail attributed here to the arrest affidavit.
Water use: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WaterSense, “How We Use Water” (last updated Aug. 4, 2026).
Property and map: El Paso County address locator, parcel-owner and town-limit layers (Nov. 4, 2026) · map base from OpenStreetMap contributors.
Licensing and business records: Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, via the state’s open-data portal · Tovah Homestead, About Us.
Methodology
The town’s press release was read in full. The Independent has not seen the arrest affidavit; every detail attributed to it here (the connection, the separate meter’s readings, the earlier concerns, the charges and the 4,028,393-gallon and $36,131 estimates) is as reported by KRDO13 Investigates, which reviewed it. The case numbers and hearing dates come from the Colorado Judicial Branch’s public docket search, run on Nov. 4, which lists the cases by first and last name only and does not show charges.
The daily figures are the Independent’s own calculations. The separate meter’s 173,320 gallons and the household meters’ 7,900 are divided by the 30 days from Sept. 14 to Oct. 13. The 4,028,393-gallon estimate is divided by the 1,078 days from Nov. 1, 2023 to Oct. 13, 2026; KRDO’s report gives the start only as November 2023, so the first of the month is assumed, and the daily average says nothing about how the use was spread over that time. The town figure divides 2025’s 43,083,171 billed gallons, from the water department’s billing table, by its 1,023 accounts and 365 days. Those are gallons billed, not pumped, and the accounts include businesses as well as homes. The 300-gallon figure is the EPA’s national average for a family’s use at home, from its WaterSense program, and is not specific to Colorado. If we have gotten something wrong, we will correct it on the Independent’s corrections page.
Using this reporting? Credit The Monument Independent and link to this article: https://monumentindependent.com/news/palmer-lake-water-theft-arrests/. Our guidelines are at Using Our Reporting.
