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Would-be Aspen publisher back in jail

Andre Salvail
The Aspen Times

Taylor S. Colton — a self-described magazine publisher accused by some Aspen-area business owners in 2011 of bilking them out of money for advertising services that were never rendered — was arrested Tuesday in Grand Junction and brought to the Pitkin County Jail because of another alleged probation violation.

On Wednesday, Pitkin County District Judge Gail Nichols set bond for the 43-year-old Glenwood Springs resident at $10,000. Nichols issued a warrant for his arrest one month ago because he failed to appear in court July 7 to address an earlier probation violation, according to felony prosecutor Andrea Bryan.

On Wednesday morning, Bryan argued that because of Colton’s extensive history of criminal charges, missed court appearances and probation violations, he should not be set free on a personal-recognizance bond.



“I articulated (in court) that it’s apparent that there aren’t any conditions that we can impose to get him to come to court,” Bryan said Wednesday afternoon. “Our primary concern needs to be resolving these cases, and we’re not going to do that if he keeps failing to appear.”

On May 24, Colton was transferred from the Garfield County Jail to the Pitkin County Jail, accused of violating probation conditions he agreed to in December 2012 when he pleaded guilty in Nichols’ court to felony trespassing.




In court on May 27, he told Nichols that he didn’t know that the local Probation Office had alleged several violations, including pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment in November in Garfield County Court, failing to provide notice of a change of address, failing to report to the Probation Office, failing to obtain counseling for substance abuse or mental conditions, and not making payments on assessed fines and costs.

Days later, Colton asked for and received a personal-recognizance bond. He said he was co-owner of Operator Generator Media Productions, a Glenwood Springs business that was in the process of producing a new monthly magazine. He said he had to be released quickly in order to satisfy demands from advertisers.

In September 2011, The Aspen Times published an article that included interviews with local business operators who claimed that Colton duped them out of thousands of dollars. The money, they said, was to pay for business advertisements in a magazine to be called Aspen Moxie.

The magazine was never published. Colton never was charged with any crimes related to that so-called venture. In the summer of 2013, he sent an email to The Aspen Times, blaming his legal, financial and personal problems on alcoholism. In court in May, he told Nichols that he had not relapsed but that he had just been extremely busy with work.

andre@aspentimes.com