Investigative reporter

Sam Tabachnik

Sam Tabachnik is an investigative reporter for The Denver Post. His projects have included deep-dives into the world of illicit antiquities, abuses of migrant workers and unconstitutional practices of Colorado municipal courts. Before joining The Post, Sam helped produce shows for NBC News, launched digital projects for The Washington Post and covered sports and arts for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Featured Stories

An agricultural worker from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, who came to work in Colorado through the Temporary Agricultural Employment of Foreign Workers Act, uses a ladder to pick peaches high in the trees of an orchard on July 21, 2023 in Palisade, Colorado. According to Bruce Talbot, the manager of Talbot Farms, roughly 90% of the workers at the Palisade-based farm come from the H-2A program, and are widely seen as critical to the survival of Colorado growers. Talbott Farms has not had a violation of federal labor laws since 2011, which Talbott attributed to then-recent rule changes that he was not aware of at the time. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

Unenforced Labor: An investigation into unsafe working conditions in Colorado agriculture

September 3, 2024 at 9:37 a.m.

In this three-part special report, The Denver Post uncovers chronic abuses in Colorado’s agricultural supply chain – and the lack of action from state and federal regulators.

Gilbert Thomas sits outside his girlfriend’s apartment, where he is staying after recently being released from jail in Pueblo, Colorado, on June 3, 2024. Thomas is working to turn his life around after receiving a 660-day jail sentence for petty crimes he committed. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

How Pueblo weaponizes contempt of court to inflate jail time for minor crimes

January 21, 2025 at 4:05 p.m.

Pueblo city judges have sent people to jail for months on charges that in other Colorado courts are punished by one or two days in jail. Experts call it "draconian"...

The seven‑tiered pyramid of Prasat Thom, Koh Ker, Cambodia, is pictured on Aug. 10, 2022. The complex was one of the most targeted by looters. (Photo by Thomas Cristofoletti/Special to The Denver Post)

Looted: Stolen relics, laundered art and a Colorado scholar’s role in the illicit antiquities trade

March 17, 2023 at 10:01 a.m.

In this three-part report, The Denver Post investigates the role of Emma Bunker, as "The Scholar," in an illicit antiquities smuggling operation that left Cambodian temples plundered for big money.

Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose, ...

What it was like to work at one of America’s most notorious funeral homes

June 8, 2025 at 8:54 p.m.

Investigators unspooled a decade-long scheme by Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors owner, Megan Hess, and her mother, Shirley Koch, to sell hundreds of bodies and body parts.

Colorado parking enforcement company ‘tricks and intimidates’ drivers into paying fees, lawsuit alleges

June 6, 2025 at 2:22 p.m.

The lawsuit comes less than two years after the company reached a settlement with Colorado’s attorney general over the collection of illegal fines.

District Attorney Michael Dougherty speaks outside the Boulder County Justice Center following a court appearance of Mohammed Soliman on Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Cliff Grassmick/Boulder Daily Camera)

Suspect in Boulder antisemitic terror attack charged with 118 counts including attempted murder

June 6, 2025 at 6:21 a.m.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian immigrant who officials say was living in the U.S. illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, also faces a federal hate crime count.

Gov. Jared Polis listens as Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera speaks during a news conference at the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Polis signed both SB25-129 and SB25-183, both abortion-related bills, into law. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

Colorado increases number of young people who can be held in pre-trial detention in emergencies

June 5, 2025 at 11:17 a.m.

The legislation also includes a body-worn camera pilot program for juvenile detention and commitment staff.

Vickie Gottlieb, left, of Greeley, Colo., joins her husband, Troy, in a prayer for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County courthouse on Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

‘Antisemitic terror attack’ on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall planned for a year, FBI says; 4 new victims found

June 2, 2025 at 9:57 p.m.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, intended to carry out a mass shooting in downtown Boulder and only switched to an explosive plan after he was denied a gun because of his...

Law enforcement officials investigate an attack on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado on June 1, 2025. Multiple people were burned, some severely, in what FBI officials described as a targeted attack on an event that called on Hamas to release Israeli hostages. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

What we know about the Pearl Street Mall attack in Boulder

June 4, 2025 at 10:45 a.m.

The man who attacked 12 people Sunday afternoon on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to jail records.

Latrisse Johnson at her apartment in Denver on May 27, 2025. Johnson's mother Shirlyne, on the right of the family photo, died after overheating in 2023 inside her apartment in the Thomas Bean Towers. Johnson is now suing the Denver Housing Authority over her mother’s death. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

A woman died after temperature soared inside her Denver Housing Authority apartment. Four years later, it happened again.

May 29, 2025 at 6:00 a.m.

The Denver medical examiner estimated Shirlyne Johnson's apartment in Thomas Bean Towers was as hot as 127 degrees at the time of her death.