Penny Parker: Britney Spears not moving to Colorado

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 06:55 p.m., January 14, 2008
Updated 07:02 p.m., January 14, 2008

© AP/TMZ

Britney Spears arrives to court in Los Angeles Monday for her child custody ruling.

It’s harder to keep up with Britney Spears’ drama than it is a 2-year-old toddler, but I’m pretty sure she won’t be bringing her trainwreck life to Colorado.

A man identifying himself as John Sundahl, a L.A.-based real estate developer who admits he dated Spears briefly last year, called me Sunday evening “to set the record straight” concerning reports that surfaced earlier this month that he was seen buying homes in Colorado for himself and Spears mid-December.

Yes, Sundahl says he was here for three days in December and forked over $2.2 million for a Cherry Creek North home and its furnishings. And yes, he says he also put a $350,000 deposit on a home in Vail.

However, he says, contrary to reports Spears was with him, he was actually with his girlfriend, Gretchen Toebing, who he says may look somewhat like Spears. But he wants to make it abundantly clear that he has no intention of sharing the homes with Spears.

Sundahl said he originally met Spears during an AA meeting in L.A. last May (which has been reported ad nauseam on the Internet), dated her for two months and broke up with her in August.

“I dated her awhile, but her drug problem was way too crazy,” Sundahl said. “I couldn’t handle it any more.”

When the story broke in the other Denver daily about he and Spears setting up house in Colorado, Sundahl was vacationing in Mexico. He said he didn’t have cell phone service nor e-mail access, so when he got home Sunday afternoon, his e-mail and cell phone were full of inquiries from all sorts of media trying to verify the story.

He called me that night to try to straighten out the story.

But, in an it-only-gets-weirder development, I noticed right away that Sundahl was calling me from the same cell number as a man who started calling me last week, spinning a very different version of the Sundahl-Spears story.

That man, who said his name was Robert Baden, claimed that he worked for Sundahl as an assistant and gave all sorts of details on Spears alleged ongoing relationship with Sundahl.

Baden claimed that Sundahl was indeed seeing Spears, and the two were going to make Vail their primary home with a second abode in Cherry Creek. The assistant also said that Sundahl had taken Spears to Harmony Foundation, a rehab facility in Estes Park — a place Sundahl insists he’s never visited.

I never ran Baden’s version of events in my column because he just didn’t check out. We couldn’t find him anywhere in the country despite searches on several data bases.

On Sunday, Sundahl said Baden had been working for him last week and did have access to the boss’ cell phone while Sundahl was away. That would explain the matching cell phone numbers.

As of Monday afternoon, Baden was nowhere to be found, according to Sundahl, who in an effort to prove he was telling the truth gave me his Social Security number, date of birth, addresses current and past and a picture of his California driver’s license — all of which checked out.

“If (Baden) was anywhere around, I’d file legal charges against him,” Sundahl said. He also said that the two real estate deals were tanking because the sellers were accusing him of violating a confidentiality agreement, even though he never gave out addresses or names of the sellers.

“I’m going to Denver to see if I can save these two properties,” Sundahl said. “My attorney's desperately trying to fix it. I really don’t want to lose all this money. This has been a mess.”

Sundahl says he’s still relocating to Colorado and moving his Sun Properties LLC real estate company to offices he’s looking for around Coors Field.

“This stuff about me and Britney is not true,” he said. “Hopefully this will get fixed, tabloid-wise.”

Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com.

• January 14, 2008

  8:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  JustSayin writes:

  So glad this was reported in such a timely fashion!

  Now, Penny, what's the dirt on the democrats 'penalizing' Michigan so they can ordain Hilary without those unkempt unemployed messing up the works?

• January 14, 2008

  8:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  somebunnyluvsme writes:

  Damn, I had just finished mapping out my stalking routine! We never get any of the really hot disaffected, has been bimbo's in Colorado! Whats a stalker to do? Guess I'll just have to keep stalking Penny!

• January 14, 2008

  9:48 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  EastVail writes:

  Thanks for the info, Penny. Yawn.

• January 15, 2008

  9:16 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Rogercc1 writes:

  I knew Johnny had more class than to be with that woman. Denver is a happier place without her.