The raw chicken in the air vents of the home was bad enough, but tearing up the hardwood floors with cleated hiking boots?
Ronald Smith, a 58-year-old lobbyist from Denver, faces up to 18 years behind bars after he was found guilty of vandalizing his ex-wife's home and causing thousands of dollars in damages, according to multiple media reports. Smith claimed his ex-wife, Michelle Young, did the damage and then blamed him, but, after deliberating for six hours, the jury found Smith guilty of second-degree burglary and criminal mischief.
Besides mutilating her wood flooring and stashing chicken meat throughout the home, it has been reported that Smith also poured liquid bleach onto Young's baby grand piano and posted a posted a "death notice" on Young's back door erroneously informing visitors of her death, among other offenses.
This isn't the first time the wood floors have been used as a pawn during an ugly divorce. In the Tale from the Front "Ugly in Every Way" from the February/March 2009 issue of Hardwood Floors, a man asked contractor Matt Morgan to install a red oak, white oak and walnut floor-the "ugliest floor" Morgan had ever seen. Just as installation was being completed, a woman arrived and asked Morgan what he was doing there. "She said, 'I own the house,' and I said, 'Excuse me!?'" Morgan recalled. The full story can be read here.
