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Snowmass emailer digs himself deeper hole

The latest email to the Snowmass Village police chief from a man with a grudge against the department contained a possible threat and an odd coincidence, the chief said Thursday.

Jeremiah Casper, 40, already has been charged with three counts of harassment for sending Chief Brian Olson and two of his officers 17 emails earlier in May with curse words and statements like “I got my eye on you punk” and “I like your fight son.”

At the time, Casper copied the emails to his public defender too, who warned him, to no avail, to stop sending the missives to law enforcement. Molly Owens, the public defender, withdrew from Casper’s case two weeks later.



However, on May 17 Casper sent an email solely to Olson, in which he wrote “How’s it going to happen” in the subject line and “Colorado Springs Military Deals” as the only line in the email body, according to Olson and an affidavit filed in Pitkin County District Court.

On Thursday, Olson said he took the “How’s it going to happen” line without a question mark as a “veiled threat.” But the stranger part of communication was the Colorado Springs line because Olson was headed to a non-military event at the Air Force Academy that weekend.




Olson said he and his family do not use social media and that his plans that weekend were not well known.

“So I don’t know how he could have known (about the Air Force Academy),” Olson said Thursday. “My gut feeling is that he didn’t know and it’s a super strange coincidence.”

Casper was arrested at his place of work in Aspen last week and charged with another count of harassment for the May 17 email to Olson. At the time, he told a sheriff’s deputy who arrested him that his new attorney also told him to stop sending emails to the police, according to the deputy’s report.

Casper also told the deputy that if he lost his job because he was arrested at work, it would be her fault, the report states.

On May 25, Pitkin County Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely authorized a protection order forbidding Casper to contact Olson or the two Snowmass Village officers he previously contacted. Casper can still call 911 or the Snowmass Village Police Department if he experiences an emergency situation, according to the protection order.

Olson said he doesn’t think Casper is a threat, though he has taken precautions to that end concerning his family.

Casper told the sheriff’s deputy he sent the original emails so he would get attention because he believes Snowmass Village officers roughed him up after he was arrested a year ago for trying to steal alcohol and meat from a Snowmass Village hotel, according to the deputy’s report.

Casper also showed up at the District Attorney’s Office in Aspen in September and told the office manager he “needed to see what the DA on my case looks like,” according to court documents.

The deputy district attorney at the time interpreted Casper’s statement as a threat and triggered a panic alarm and a call to police. Casper was allegedly drunk at the time, which led to his being arrested for violating the no alcohol terms of his bond conditions.

Casper is on probation for felony drunken driving in Eagle County and was convicted of felony menacing in 2005, assault in 2013, theft in 2015 and two counts of disorderly conduct in 2016.

jauslander@aspentimes.com