Homeless Woman Breaks Into Missoula Hotel and Destroys Room

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - On June 12, 2024, a Missoula Police Department Officer was dispatched to the Citi Lodge on Broadway to remove a person who had broken into a vacant unit. The officer arrived on scene and saw a female walking around the corner of the building.  

The hotel manager and an employee approached the officer. They stated there was a female inside a vacant room and that she just ran towards a casino. As the officer was standing with staff, they saw the female near the back of the casino. 

The officer got into her patrol vehicle and initiated her overhead lights. The officer yelled out to the female to stop multiple times. The officer also noticed the female had a bottle of Malibu Rum in her hands.  

The female continued to walk away from the officer. The officer drove into the parking lot, exited her patrol vehicle (with the lights still activated), and told the female to drop the items in her hands. 

The officer identified the female as 38-year-old Angela Sorensen. The officer asked Sorensen why she thought she was making contact with her. Sorensen responded, "Uh, I want to fix it. I just went crazy. I didn't mean to. What, what did you say?" The officer repeated her question and Sorensen stated she is a homeless person and wasn't harming anything.

The officer grabbed Sorensen’s right arm and gave her commands to put her hands behind her back. Sorensen then tried to turn her entire body towards the officer. She then lifted her entire arm to break free from the officer’s grip. The officer told Sorensen she was under arrest and to stop resisting. 

According to court documents, the officer got on the radio and asked for her backup officer to "step it up." This was due to Sorensen’s attempt to avoid being placed in handcuffs and under arrest. Eventually, the officer completed a search incident to arrest and placed Sorensen in the backseat of her patrol vehicle. 

READ MORE: Missoula News – Crime Reports 

The officer returned to the Citi Lodge hotel and spoke to the same staff from earlier. They confirmed that Sorensen was the female that was inside the room. Inside the room, Sorensen had destroyed some of the property. The AC unit was broken and would need to be fixed in order to secure the room again. The wooden panel covering the water pipes was removed and placed in the window.  

The smoke detector was taken out of the ceiling. There were cigarettes and ash inside the room in multiple places, which indicated she removed the smoke detector in order to smoke inside the room. The officer also found tinfoil with burnt residue inside a noodles container and a "tooter straw" on the nightstand. Sorensen had written with a marker on the furniture and they were going to have to attempt to get the writing off or repaint. 

The officer transported Sorensen to the Missoula County Detention Center and told her she was trespassed from Citi Lodge and never allowed to return to the property. Sorensen stated she understood. 

Sorensen is currently being charged with felony burglary, resisting arrest, and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. 

The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.