Weld County Sheriff’s Office will accept bids for the Econo Lodge property on Dec. 11

A Longmont area hotel will be sold in a sheriff’s auction after Weld County said it failed to fork over a $4.5 million payout levied when a jury found the hotel negligent in giving a room key to a man who entered the room and violently assaulted a mother and her daughter.

The Econo Lodge, off Interstate 25 and Colo. 119 in Del Camino, was ordered to pay $4.05 million in May. That payout includes $3 million for physical injuries suffered by the daughter, who was stabbed in the face, and $1.05 million for emotional distress and other “non-economic” damages suffered by both women, according to court records.

The hotel has not paid, according to Weld County court records. The county was ordered to enforce the payment of more than $4.52 million after the hotel did not pay, according to an Aug. 18 writ of execution.

The total is larger than the initial $4.05 million because of compounded interest and the required payment of the victims’ court costs, according to online court documents.

Now, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office will hold an auction for the Econo Lodge property on Dec. 11, aiming to net the full owed amount, which would go to the two women, according to a legal notice of the sale.

“I think it’s an excellent opportunity for a new owner,” the women’s lawyer, Matthew Haltzman, said over the phone. Haltzman said the previous owners showed poor management throughout the duration of the case. He said that the upcoming sale is not the end of the women’s pursuit of justice.

“It’s a step,” Haltzman said. “It’s not a complete step.”

The June 2023 lawsuit accused the hotel of recklessly failing to ensure the safety of its guests, failing to follow safety policies such as restricting room access to guests and hiring unqualified individuals.

In January 2023, the mother and daughter invited 31-year-old Cody M. Czichos, who was dating the daughter, to the room to eat pizza and watch television. He began acting erratically and unpredictably, the women said, and the two asked him to leave.

The two women never told hotel employees that Czichos should have access to the room, nor did they give him a key card to get in, the complaint said. He was also neither a registered guest of the hotel nor listed in reference to the room.

When he returned to the hotel — in the early morning hours of Jan. 4 — he approached the front desk, the complaint alleged. Both front desk employees told police that Czichos mentioned he took a lot of Xanax, among other “ominous statements,” the lawsuit said, but neither employee took any action.

After displaying intoxicated behavior in the hotel lobby for 45 minutes to an hour, the complaint alleged, Czichos requested a key card to the women’s room, and the employees gave it to him.

Czichos returned to the room and slapped one of the women before slicing the other woman’s face and hand as she tried to fight him off, records show.

Czichos is serving a 15-year sentence for the attack, after pleading guilty in April 2024 to attempted second-degree murder, third-degree assault and first-degree trespassing as part of a plea agreement, Colorado court records show.

The auction for the hotel property will be at 10 a.m. Dec. 11, at the Weld County Sheriff’s Office at 1950 O Street in Greeley.

See the original article here: https://www.denverpost.com/2025/10/30/econo-lodge-auction-longmont-assaults/