Special to the Vail Daily
EAGLE — Jason Cuervo has had a year in jail to reflect on some things. One of those is the realization that stealing a Sno-Cat in broad daylight, in a drug-addled state, and driving it along Interstate 70 is a monumentally bad idea.
In fact, it’s such a monumentally bad idea that his mom exercised some serious tough love and told police where to find him and arrest him.
Cuervo admitted that he stole John Brandenburg’s General Lee Sno-Cat from Minturn, hauled it to a neighborhood west of Grand Junction in the high desert — not a Sno-Cat’s natural habitat — then eluded a SWAT team and fled to the Front Range. He also pleaded guilty to criminal offenses in Mesa, Clear Creek and Jefferson counties.
He’ll spend three years in community corrections, a residential program that oversees offenders outside of jail or prison. He also has to pay for $16,000 in repairs to the General Lee. If he messes up any of that, he goes straight to state prison, said Judge Rachel Fresquez, who handed down the sentence Tuesday.
Drugs to blame
Cuervo has been an opioid addict and told Judge Fresquez that drugs are at the root of his behavior problems. His year behind bars has given him plenty of time to look at his version of “the ghost of Christmas future,” his attorney J.B. Katz said.
Special to the Vail Daily
Tuesday’s sentencing was on the one-year anniversary of his sobriety, Katz said.
Cuervo apologized, but he said the time in jail helped him get sober and get his life on track.
“I have no desire to ever use again. I didn’t like the person I was when I was using,” Cuervo said. “I want to turn a new page in my life and leave these choices behind me.”
Deputy District Attorney Johnny Lombardi said Cuervo’s criminal history began as a juvenile in 2003. He asked that Cuervo be sentenced to four years in state prison.
Patty Cuervo, Jason’s mom, said her son is a different person now than the one who committed those offenses.
She said she made the arrangements to have him arrested in a Jefferson County auto dealership where he was having his small truck’s transmission repaired. He ruined it hauling the General Lee from Minturn to Grand Junction.
Some of his Jeffco problems stemmed from trying to swap marijuana to cover some of that repair bill.
Cuervo’s Sno-Cat saga
As you may recall, it was Sunday, March 11, 2018, when Cuervo stole Brandenburg’s orange General Lee Sno-Cat from the Turntable restaurant’s parking lot in Minturn.
Cuervo hauled the big, orange Sno-Cat west on Interstate 70, out of Eagle County’s alpine environment and toward Western Colorado’s high desert.
When it was stolen, Brandenburg called the police, but he first posted the General Lee’s picture on Facebook. Brandenburg says the tips poured in, and his Facebook post was shared 3,000 times.
People messaged and called to say they saw the huge trailer being towed by a tiny Toyota pickup truck. One of the General Lee’s co-owners, a pilot, jumped in his plane to search from the air.
The General Lee was spotted by a woman in Mesa County who was curious about why such small truck was pulling such a huge trailer — and straining to do it. In fact, she was so curious that she followed it. The woman called the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, which asked the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office for a little help.
Mesa County deputies showed up to serve a search warrant, which is about the time Cuervo barricaded himself in the house.
Sure enough, The General Lee was in a garage at the same house as Cuervo.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Junction Police Department SWAT teams executed the search warrant. They found the General Lee, along with weapons, ammunition, drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Cuervo managed to escape until he was arrested in Boulder while his truck was in the shop. His mom told the police where to find him.