West Denver Landlord Says Serial Squatter Left Meth-Contaminated Wreck

When Stephanie Williams finally got back inside the West Denver house she had rented out last year, she says it did not look like the same place. The home was boarded up, windows covered, and the inside so contaminated it was considered unsafe to enter. The tenant who signed the lease as "Ann Schwab" was later identified in court records as Heather Ruybal, and Williams says testing and inspections revealed damage and meth contamination that left her tens of thousands of dollars in the hole. The case has now spilled into criminal court and public health files, and nearby landlords are watching the court docket like it is appointment television.

According to Denver7, Williams leased the house in 2024 to a woman who showed what appeared to be solid paperwork and even paid rent early at times. That streak ended in March, when the payments stopped. While digging into a prior payment, Williams says she learned the tenant was actually Heather Ruybal, who court records and past reporting show has a long history of evictions in both Colorado and Texas, and previously received a six-year prison sentence. Williams told Denver7 she found drug paraphernalia inside the property and that subsequent testing revealed methamphetamine levels at about eight times Colorado's safety threshold. The City and County of Denver's Department of Public Health and Environment then declared the home uninhabitable, and Williams says she spent tens of thousands of dollars on cleanup and mitigation before the house was finally cleared. Denver7 reported that Ruybal turned herself in on June 5, was released on a $10,000 bond, and is due back in a Denver courtroom on June 22.

A long-running pattern

The case closely tracks earlier accounts involving a woman previously known as Heather Schwab, whom investigators and prosecutors labeled a "serial squatter" after she repeatedly leased homes under fake names and allegedly walked away from rent and bills. As detailed by CBS News Colorado, Schwab was sentenced in 2018 after prosecutors laid out a series of similar scams and evictions stretching back more than a decade. Landlords and public health officials say that when fraudulent leases collide with drug contamination, the financial fallout can be brutal. Under rules from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, any home deemed methamphetamine-affected must be professionally remediated and certified before it can be rented or sold again, and it has to be publicly listed as such while that cleanup is underway.

Why landlords get stuck

Attorney Robert Schifferdecker told Denver7 that even when property owners win in court, there is often no real payday at the end. "People like this, they're really just judgment-proof," he said. Between the legal costs, the slow pace of eviction cases, and the steep price of cleaning up drug contamination, many small landlords end up eating the repairs and the lost rent. Williams says she is hoping the current criminal case will finally bring accountability and make it harder for the same pattern to repeat itself with another unsuspecting owner.

What's next

Ruybal faces ongoing criminal matters in Colorado and has also been tied to separate fraud cases in Texas. Landlords who think they may have been targeted are urged to hang onto leases, payment histories, and all communication records in case prosecutors or civil attorneys need them. Residents who suspect meth activity or contamination in a home should contact local law enforcement and review guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on how to report a problem and what remediation involves.