{"id":2443114,"date":"2019-04-17T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=304359"},"modified":"2019-04-18T08:29:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T14:29:53","slug":"rage-against-bear-killing-leads-to-arson-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/rage-against-bear-killing-leads-to-arson-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"Rage against bear killing leads to arson plea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Pitkin County man admitted Wednesday to taking extreme measures last fall when he retaliated against a hunter who legally killed a bear on a next-door ranch last fall.<\/p>\n

Thomas Andersen, 69, pleaded guilty to felony attempted arson and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in Pitkin County District Court on Wednesday in exchange for a plea deal. The terms of the deal call for the felony conviction to be wiped from Andersen\u2019s record after two years provided he is not charged with another crime during that time.<\/p>\n

Andersen is scheduled to be sentenced in June, when he could receive time in the Pitkin County Jail or probation. He did not answer his phone or respond to a text message sent Wednesday seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Andersen, who lives on Lower Brush Creek Road near Snowmass Village in unincorporated Pitkin County, confronted the hunter the evening of Sept. 7 after witnessing the bear-killing on the Brush Creek Ranch next door to his home, according to a Pitkin County Sheriff\u2019s Office report. The hunter told sheriff\u2019s deputies that Andersen was \u201cin a rage\u201d and began screaming at him, his two young sons and the ranch caretaker despite the fact that the hunter had a valid bear-hunting permit and permission to hunt on the property. Andersen called the boys \u2014 who were 5 and 7 years old at the time \u2014 \u201csons of bitches\u201d and \u201clittle bastards\u201d and told them their father was a \u201cmurderer\u201d and a \u201cdumbf\u2014,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

Deputies were called back to the ranch later that night after the hunter reported finding gasoline poured on the ranch driveway, along with a gas can nozzle and a piece of brown paper bag. A deputy asked Andersen at that time if he poured the gas on the driveway in retaliation for the bear-killing, and Andersen said, \u201cYeah, but I didn\u2019t light the fire,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

Andersen\u2019s son told the Times in September that his father is a nature-lover, had been watching the bears all summer and was upset to witness the killing. He also said his father spilled the gas while carrying a heavy gas can and had no intention of lighting a fire.<\/p>\n

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutor Don Nottingham agreed to drop misdemeanor charges of interference with a hunter and telephone harassment. The telephone harassment charge was filed March 28 after Andersen allegedly called the hunter on March 22 or 23, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Kurtis Tesch, Aspen area wildlife officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, urged prosecutors<\/a> to file the interference with hunting charge against Andersen because the hunter was within his rights<\/a> to kill the bear. On Wednesday, Tesch said Andersen\u2019s actions were out of bounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor one thing, to go after the kids, who are innocent bystanders,\u201d he said. \u201cThen to go back and plan to set the (driveway) on fire. It\u2019s pretty egregious, if you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pitkin County man admitted Wednesday to taking extreme measures last fall when he retaliated against a hunter who legally killed a bear on a next-door ranch last fall. Thomas Andersen, 69, pleaded guilty to felony attempted arson and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in Pitkin County District Court on Wednesday in exchange for a plea deal. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 21:10:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}