DENVER — A San Luis Valley man with recent ties to Gunnison County was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in the Department of Corrections for committing extortion and threatening several judges, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, attorneys, and citizens in Gunnison, Montrose, and Alamosa counties over a two-year period, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
Brett Andrew Nelson was found guilty by a jury last month on nearly two dozen counts brought against him in April 2022 in connection to the crimes, a spokesperson with the AG’s office said in a news release Wednesday.
State prosecutors said Nelson used “sovereign citizen-like tactics” starting in 2018 to submit numerous fraudulent documents, such as powers of attorney and default judgments, against public officials and individuals involved in criminal and domestic relations cases where he was a defendant, the release stated.
They also said Nelson filed documents containing threats directed at judges and lodged announcements of liens on several judges' properties in an attempt to influence case outcomes and “submitted powers of attorney, granting him authority to represent judges, in efforts to dismiss cases in which he was involved,” according to the release.
But his crimes don’t end there.
Additional evidence presented by by prosecutors state Nelson also submitted fraudulent quitclaim deeds on multiple properties, aiming to transfer ownership to himself – properties that belonged to people involved in his criminal and retaliation cases, including victims and law enforcement officers. He also filed false default judgments against individuals connected to his legal matters, including the mother of his child.
The AG’s office said the jury returned a verdict after five hours of deliberations.
