{"id":2447750,"date":"2019-08-19T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/lawsuit-reaction-to-pitkin-county-bear-killing-caused-family-trauma\/"},"modified":"2019-08-19T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T04:40:00","slug":"lawsuit-reaction-to-pitkin-county-bear-killing-caused-family-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/lawsuit-reaction-to-pitkin-county-bear-killing-caused-family-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit: Reaction to Pitkin County bear killing caused family trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Florida man repeatedly terrorized and harassed a hunter and his family over the legal killing of a bear a year ago to the point of inflicting \u201csevere emotional distress,\u201d according to a lawsuit filed last week.<\/p>\n

Thomas Andersen \u2014 who pleaded guilty in April to felony attempted arson in connection with his reaction to the bear killing \u2014 allegedly tried to set the family\u2019s car on fire, caused the hunter\u2019s two young sons to be \u201cterrified that Mr. Andersen will harm them or their parents\u201d and threatened the family twice by phone in the months after the incident, according to the suit filed Thursday in Pitkin County District Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Huck family anxiously endured this repeated and ongoing harassment for months,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cThey remain extremely concerned for their safety, and worry that Mr. Andersen will one day make good on his threats and set fire to their home or otherwise harm members of their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Andersen \u2014 who owns a home on Lower Brush Creek Road near Snowmass Village \u2014 did not respond to a text message sent Monday seeking comment about the lawsuit. His Denver-based criminal lawyer said Monday he was not aware of the suit and was not representing Andersen anymore.<\/p>\n

In addition to the attempted arson charge, Andersen also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and was sentenced in June to two years of probation and fined $2,500. In exchange for the plea deal, the District Attorney\u2019s Office agreed to wipe the felony from Andersen\u2019s record if he stays out of trouble during the probation period.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed by Andrew Huck, his wife, Javiera Francisca Valenzuela Yuraszeck, and their two young sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Andersen\u2019s pattern of disturbing and violent behavior towards the Huck family began Sept. 7, 2018\u201d after Andersen witnessed Huck kill a bear on Brush Creek Ranch property next door to his home, the lawsuit states. Huck, whose 5- and 7-year-old sons were with him at the time, had a valid bear-hunting permit later confirmed by state wildlife officials and wanted the bear for food for his family.<\/p>\n

Andersen \u201cfirst approached the young boys in a highly agitated state and in an aggressive, threatening manner,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Andersen began screaming at the young boys at the top of his lungs, yelling that (their) father was a \u2018murderer\u2019 and shouting at (them) that they were \u2018little bastards,\u2019 \u2018sons of bitches\u2019 and \u2026 \u2018little cowards\u2019\u201d the suit states. \u201cThe traumatic scene caused by this irate adult stranger caused the young boys to burst into tears and fear for the safety of themselves and their father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huck tried to de-escalate the situation, but Andersen would not let him speak and showered him and his sons with obscenities for four to six minutes before Huck demanded that Andersen leave, according to the lawsuit. Andersen also \u201cflew into another rage\u201d when Pitkin County deputies visited his home and called \u201ceveryone \u2014 including the deputies \u2014 \u2018dumbf\u2014s,\u2019 \u2018hillbillies\u2019 and other disparaging names,\u201d the suit states. Andersen also insulted the Italian-American ancestry of one of the deputies and the Brush Creek Ranch caretaker.<\/p>\n

Later that night, Huck and his sons were preparing to leave the ranch when they \u201cnoticed a strange liquid on the driveway near his vehicle\u201d that turned out to be gasoline with strips of paper sticking out of it and a gas can nozzle laying nearby. One of the strips had the name of Andersen\u2019s wife printed on it, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Deputies returned to Andersen\u2019s home, found a gas can missing a nozzle on his front porch and asked him about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least I didn\u2019t start the fire,\u201d Andersen reportedly said, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The Lake Christine Fire was still burning in Basalt at the time and the entire Roaring Fork Valley \u201cwas a tinder box\u201d because of extremely dry conditions, the suit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad Mr. Andersen carried through on his plan to start a fire, it is impossible to overstate the devastation and destruction that would have ensued,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Finally, Andersen or someone calling from a number registered to him called the Hucks on Dec. 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this the Andrew that files false police reports?\u201d the caller asked Huck after he answered, the lawsuit states. \u201cYou will be getting yours soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snowmass Village police determined the number was registered to Andersen, but he denied it when they called and asked him about it, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

On March 23, Andersen left Huck \u201can ominous and ranting voicemail\u201d at 2:33 a.m. warning him to \u201cstay away from the property \u2026 you\u2019re a lawbreaker, Andrew,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks unspecified damages from Andersen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Andersen remains at large and has proven in the past to be an active and real threat to the Huck family,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cMr. Andersen\u2019s threatening and unlawful behavior have caused the Huck family severe emotional trauma, fear and mental anguish.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

A Florida man repeatedly terrorized and harassed a hunter and his family over the legal killing of a bear a year ago to the point of inflicting \u201csevere emotional distress,\u201d according to a lawsuit filed last week. Thomas Andersen \u2014 who pleaded guilty in April to felony attempted arson in connection with his reaction to […]<\/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-2447750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 03:10:53","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\/2447750","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=2447750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}