A Hispanic couple driving through a wealthy area of Colorado looking for their friend’s wedding rehearsal found something else instead: a furious CEO who allegedly threatened to blow their heads off.
On June 12, Chris Ochoa and his girlfriend were traveling through Elk Canyon Estates in Sedalia, and followed his GPS to the exact address given to him by the groom.
After pulling into the driveway, they realized they didn’t recognize any of the cars there, so immediately made a u-turn to head back out and call their friend. They didn’t get very far.
“As I was driving back up the main road, a large red truck pulled in front of me and cut me off, blocking the road,” Ochoa wrote on Facebook, with the pictures to prove it.
He said the man — who would later be identified as Paul Favret, the CEO of a local energy company — jumped out of the truck and pulled a gun on them.
“He then ran to my driver’s side window (which was down) and continued to point the gun and yell that he was ‘going to blow our head off!’ and that he ‘wants to blow my head off’,” he claimed in the post.
“He did not ask us any questions about where we were going. He simply cut us off and assaulted us. Apparently, the u-turn that I had made was in his driveway; and he wasn’t happy about it.”
With their hands up and not daring to move, knowing he could shoot at any time, the couple continuously apologized and told him they were just searching for their friends’ wedding party.
“We apologized for turning around in his driveway but he would not put the gun down,” he said. “He remained in rage for what felt like an eternity.”
As he moved around the car, his girlfriend quickly snapped the pics and called 911.
“We felt in danger as he kept pointing the gun at our faces and continued to tell us how much he wanted to kill us,” he said.
A member of the wedding party finally arrived and Favret eventually backed off and retreated to his house. When the couple arrived at the correct venue nearby, they showed the photo to the owner of the house, the groom’s aunt, who identified Favret as the HOA President.
Ochoa — who identifies as Mexican-American — later found out that two other cars had gone to the incorrect address because of the GPS mix-up, but no one else had guns pulled on them. He also discovered he and his girlfriend were the only minorities in the entire neighborhood at the time, and he believes this is why he was targeted.
However, when Ochoa told police he wanted to press charges, he claimed the groom’s aunt told him “If you press charges and disrupt my community I will cancel the wedding.”
“I was in disbelief that she put me in the position of choosing between ruining my best friend’s wedding or doing what is right,” he wrote. “I had no choice but to walk away. It amazed me that she was willing to cancel her own nephew’s wedding because of this.”
Ochoa was so upset over the incident he ended up missing the wedding the next day. However now that it has passed, he decided to push ahead with pressing charges.
In an incident report, Favret initially denied pulling a gun. But when deputies showed him the pictures, he changed his story, claiming he didn’t remember that part because of pain medication he was on for shoulder surgery.
He issued a statement through his company Resource Energy, claiming: “The Facebook post in question does not portray an accurate version of the events. However, I deeply regret my actions that day.”
“I had no way of knowing the identities of the individuals in the vehicle,” he said. “I just saw the unknown vehicle very close to the home at a time when we were not expecting any visitors and our property is clearly marked with our address and is about 1/2 mile from their destination.”
Favret also claimed he’s had problems with intruders on his property in the past engaging in illegal elk hunting.
According to 9News, The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has now filed five criminal charges against Favret, including two felony menacing charges and three misdemeanors relating to gun crimes.
He has until the end of the week to turn himself in; if he does not an arrest warrant will be issued.
If convicted, he could face up to three years in prison.
He declined an on-camera interview with the site, but sent a text exclaiming “Now that I am healing… and understand what really happened I feel terrible that I scared them. I scared myself.”
