The eviction notice that left a family’s belongings on the curb of Mortensen Road on Tuesday followed court-standard procedure, officials said Wednesday.

Bob Bochik, his wife and daughter were evicted from their apartment at 1300 Coconino Road for failing to pay rent, said Ev Cochrane of Ev Cochrane and Associates, owner of the property. Cochrane said the family had until noon Tuesday to remove the items from the apartment, but failed to comply. The belongings were moved to the curb by company employees.

Katie Downs, junior in sociology who lives near the emptied apartment, said many of the belongings are broken and still scattered along the block. Downs said she saw people picking through the items as late as 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“They broke the majority of their furniture and most of it is in the muddiest part of the road,” Downs said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in 20 years in the business,” Cochrane said.

The family was given ample warning as well as a court-issued writ of possession, allowing the company to remove their belongings, he said.

“When we receive a court order to execute the writ, we do so as an arm of the court,” said Sgt. Jamey McCaskey of the Story County Sheriff’s Office.

McCaskey said such actions are executed with a Forcible Entry or Detention of Real Property order.

“Normally, what our office does as a courtesy is we’ll post a notice on the door the night before, to move the property out if they haven’t done so,” said Capt. Gary Foster of the Story County Sheriff’s Office.

The belongings are then moved off the premises by employees of the landowner with sheriff’s office deputies present, but the items still belong to the defendant, Foster said.

“When we are standing there, we don’t allow people to take items,” Foster said.

After the order is carried out, the property owner and sheriff’s office are not responsible for the belongings, McCaskey said.

Downs said she was shocked when she saw people taking the belongings from the curb while Department of Public Safety officers were present.

“I saw people loading up a truck, and it was mostly college kids,” Downs said. “Two guys were carrying a huge oak dresser across Mortensen [Road]. I felt sorry for [the family] because I would never want that to happen to me.”

McCaskey said Bochik had plenty of time to remove his belongings before they were moved to the curb.

“Our deputies told the individuals that this was going to happen, and there was no response, so it doesn’t leave us much choice once [plaintiffs] have the court order,” McCaskey said.

“[The defendants] were very aware of what was occurring, but they left and never came back.”

Michael Levine, legal consultant in the Dean of Students Office, said the removal of belongings is “not as common as one thinks.”

“Hopefully they can arrange a move-out date agreed upon by both parties before that point,” Levine said.

“Most landlords have become pretty reluctant to go to that measure.”

Cochrane said the incident was a rare occurrence for him.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100 the tenants work it out or move themselves out, and that’s the way it usually works,” he said.

However, Foster said the number of times his department has had to move belongings off the premises is on the rise. Normally, there are about 10 to 15 incidents per year, “but we may have had that many so far this year,” Foster said.

Cochrane said he acted in accordance with the law.

“The guy purposely walked away from his belongings,” he said.

Bochik could not be reached for comment.