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Prosecutor charges Peter Nardi with sexual assault

Rick Carroll
The Aspen Times

An Aspen man faces a mandatory minimum of eight years behind bars if convicted of a sex crime filed against him Monday.

Prosecutor Andre Bryan’s charging document against Peter Nardi, 50, includes the felony count of sexual assault — overcoming a victim’s will, which carries eight years to life in state prison.

Bryan also charged Nardi with attempted second-degree assault and third-degree assault resulting in bodily injury.



Nardi appeared in court without a lawyer but told Judge Gail Nichols that he will apply for a public defender. He is due back in court May 20 and was ordered to surrender his passport.

Monday’s court briefing lasted about five minutes and was the latest development in a case in which Judge Gail Nichols initially set his bond at $400,000 after his April 6 arrest. But at an April 9 hearing, Bryan asked the judge to slash the bond to just $2,500 based on new findings.




At the time, Nardi had initially faced charges of sexual assault, false imprisonment, criminal trespass and third-degree assault. Those charges, however, were not officially filed.

Bryan said Monday that the bond remains at $2,500 but that multiple witness interviews and evidence gathering prompted her to file Monday’s charges. She said the bond will remain at $2,500 for “the timebeing.”

Bryan also said that the new charges are based, in part, on what Nardi’s ex-girlfriend told authorities.

The woman told police that Nardi was in her apartment unit when she arrived home at 12:40 a.m. April 6. She alleged that Nardi then took her captive and forced water down her throat, beat her, covered her with a pillow, shoved his underwear down her throat, sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she called the police. Later that day, Aspen police, after being contacted by the woman, arrested Nardi while he was driving west on Main Street.

In an affidavit for a warrantless arrest, police officer Terry Leitch said he noticed a bruise on the left side of the accuser’s jaw; bruising on both of her forearms, her left wrist, right elbow and upper right arm; and a small cut on her right hand’s middle finger. The woman complained of pain and moved “very slowly and tentatively,” Leitch wrote.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com