Thief Burgled Troubled Coronado Complex With Stolen Key Cards

Tenants at the Grand Center apartments say they were never notified of the burglaries that occurred in November

Dec 20, 2023 at 10:18 am

The Coronado Place & Towers houses mostly Saint Louis University students. MONICA OBRADOVIC

St. Louis Police have busted a thief who burglarized several apartments in the Coronado Place & Towers — including at least once when the victim was inside their apartment.

Christian Blake Schultz, 33, is accused of entering apartments with stolen key cards and taking residents’ possessions.

The Coronado Place & Towers has been hit with a slew of lawsuits in the past few months, as tenants say they’ve been forced to live without heat or air conditioning, responsive management or consistent hot water. Subpar living conditions at the large apartment complex in Grand Center, which houses mostly Saint Louis University students, were the focus of a RFT cover story in September.

The burglaries, though, are something new.

According to a probable cause statement, on November 4 at 8:45 a.m., Schultz keyed his way into a Coronado tenant’s apartment and asked, “Do you have all your furniture?”

The victim was confused and asked the man to leave, but police allege Schultz then returned about an hour and 15 minutes later when the victim was in his bedroom. The victim heard voices and the sound of someone entering his apartment. When the victim came out of his bedroom, he found that his MacBook Pro laptop, valued at $1,000, was missing.

Earlier that day, a second victim was awoken at about 4 a.m. by doors opening and closing. At 7 a.m., according to court records, she discovered her front door was ajar.

Doors at the Coronado Place & Towers are electronic. An audit performed by police found the first victim’s door had been opened by a master key and the second victim’s door by management’s spare key.

On November 9, St. Louis police arrested Schultz in a vacant apartment where officers allege they found many stolen items and numerous apartment keys for the Coronado Place & Towers.

“The defendant confessed to burglarizing numerous apartments at the Coronado gaining entry with various keys including the master key,” Officer Robert Trim wrote in the probable cause statement for Schultz’s arrest.

Trim continues, “He further stated he stole the keys when he burglarized the management office of the Coronado Apartments.”

Schultz faces four felony charges; three for first-degree burglary and a fourth for stealing items valued at $750 or more.

Multiple residents reached on Tuesday say they had never been notified of the burglaries. One resident says one building in the complex, Lindell West, didn’t have a lock on the front door for months until a lock was installed about a week ago.

Residents of the Coronado Place & Towers started to publicly raise safety concerns after a student alleged she was sexually assaulted by a maintenance man who worked for the complex in August.

In November, the property management company that maintained the complex, Cardinal Group Management, and the complex’s owner, Mapletree Investments, parted ways.

A new company management, Greystar, has taken over management of the buildings.

Mapletree Investments did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Schultz is being held without bond. Missouri’s online courts system lists his address as “homeless.”