Prosecutors decided that they couldn’t prove who vandalized a Powell woman’s car last year, but she’s since taken up the case herself as a civil matter.

A judge is currently mulling whether there’s enough evidence to show who’s responsible for the roughly $6,000 worth of damage.

Someone etched a long scratch in Trish Moulton’s SUV in May 2024 while the vehicle was at the Autoworks shop on East South Street.

After speaking with Autoworks’ owner and reviewing surveillance footage, Powell police concluded the vandalism was committed by a neighbor. Scott Lee, 73, lives directly across from Autoworks and has previously voiced concern with shop customers parking on South Street alongside his home. Police arrested Lee and Park County prosecutors initially charged him with a felony count of property destruction.

However, Lee told police he knew nothing about the damage to Moulton’s vehicle and, just ahead of a May trial, Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric decided to drop the case.

Moulton then personally filed a small claims suit against Lee in Park County Circuit Court, asking a judge to order Lee to pay for the damage to her 2014 Toyota Highlander.

At a Monday hearing, Moulton said it was “pretty sad that my vehicle got … damaged between this feud between him [Lee] and Autoworks.”

But Lee continued to insist that he didn’t scratch the car and that there was “no evidence” he did.

“I do feel bad for her [Moulton] that her car was damaged,” Lee’s attorney, Sam Krone, said at the hearing, “but Mr. Lee did not cause that damage.”

Krone made a point of noting that the criminal case was dismissed, adding that Skoric “is not known to be soft on crime.”

However, in pressing a civil claim, Moulton has an easier task than prosecutors in a criminal case. Whereas the state must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” civil cases are determined by a “preponderance of the evidence,” which generally means that Moulton only needs to show that her claims against Lee are more likely than not.

Circuit Court Magistrate Breanne Phillips — who’s presiding over the case after Judge Joey Darrah recused himself — has taken the case under advisement.

Conflict over parking

On Monday, Lee and Autoworks owner Tracy Sweet both testified that they’d had some conflict over customer vehicles being parked on the south side of South Street, along Lee’s property line.

At one point, Lee put up a sign telling people not to park on the public street along his property, though that’s since been removed.

Meanwhile, Lee testified that he complained to the city about customers’ vehicles being parked near his property for extended periods of time. Lee said that resulted in Sweet agreeing to not park cars there for more than 24 hours.

Sweet “has upheld his part of the agreement” and things have been fine for the past few years, Lee testified.

However, Sweet said he was told in the spring of 2024 that Lee had placed nails in the gutter along South Street; the store’s surveillance footage appeared to corroborate the allegation, Sweet testified, though he didn’t save a copy.

Then in April 2024, Sweet found the mirror of his own truck had been knocked inward and surveillance footage showed Lee hitting it with his shoulder, Sweet said.

No damage was done by the “shouldering,” but Moulton’s Highlander was scratched a couple weeks later, on May 9, 2024.

In shock versus lying

The vehicle had been parked near Lee’s house, and when Sweet learned of the damage, he said “the first thing that popped into my mind was, ‘Oh no, he’s escalated into damaging people’s cars now by scraping them.’”

Surveillance footage from that day showed Lee walked closely alongside the Highlander, in the direction of the damage. According to then-Powell Police Officer Paul Sapp’s recounting of the footage, Lee appears to “slightly twist his body” when he reaches the end of the vehicle, “as though he was relieving the pressure from keying the car.”

A couple days later, Sweet said his employees saw Lee come out of his house with a shiny object in his hand before returning. Sweet speculated that Lee had planned to scratch his personal truck, which had been parked there a short time earlier.

Lee, however, generally denied all of the allegations in a May 15, 2024, interview with Sapp. 

“I was shocked when he [Sapp] accused me of vandalizing this car,” Lee said Monday, noting he has no criminal record.

In his police report, Sapp said that Lee admitted to bumping the mirror of Sweet’s truck — Lee contended Monday that he only allowed that he “may have” — then began complaining about the vehicle being parked there. 

As Lee continued to deny damaging any property, “I asked him why he was continuing to lie to me like a child when he was 71 years old,” Sapp wrote. “Scott [Lee] seemed upset I would say that to him and I told him it was because of his actions.”

Sapp arrested him at the end of the conversation, finding a knife in his pocket. Lee spent parts of three days in jail before being released on a signature bond.

The felony case advanced to Park County District Court before Skoric dropped it “without prejudice” in late April.

Decision coming in two weeks

After the dismissal of the criminal charge, Moulton approached Lee in June and asked him to pay for the damage to her Highlander, which is her only vehicle.

According to her recounting of the conversation, Lee denied scratching the SUV and referenced “a long-time feud with Autoworks” over parking.

“If you have any beef, take it up with them,” he reportedly said.

Moulton filed her small claims action against Lee a week later.

Lee has lived at the residence for 18 years, while Sweet has run his Autoworks shop at the location for 33 years.

“It’s frustrating,” Sweet testified on Monday, “because I’m scared of my customers parking over on a public street — that … for no reason, they’re vandalized.”

Krone, however, argued there was no evidence to suggest a pattern of vandalism, with surveillance footage proving nothing. 

Phillips said she wanted to review the videos in more detail before making a decision. She said her ruling would come within two weeks.