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‘Cautionary warning’

San Miguel County Sheriff issues statement about a cache of weapons found off popular trail

By Leslie Vreeland, Contributing Editor 12 hrs ago



The cache of weapons authorities found at the illegal camp of a squatter recently. (Photo courtesy of San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office)

It was a menacing-looking array: “Knives, hatchets, and a cross-bow and several swords,” as a statement from San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office put it on Facebook earlier this week, in a release that accompanied a photo of a stunning amount of weaponry.

“Sheriff Masters wants the citizens and visitors of our county to know of an armed man who has been illegally camping in the Telluride area,” the release began. “The individual has been arrested three times in the Norwood and Telluride areas since July 1 for charges, including weapons offenses, burglary of a local laundromat, possession of meth, trespassing and theft. The judge has repeatedly released this man on PR bonds over the objections of the District Attorney’s office. (Monday) more than three dozen weapons were found around his campsite in the Mill Creek area of Telluride … just yards off a popular trail. The campsite had been illegally constructed on private property. ‘In light of the past week’s double homicide of campers outside Moab, I want to caution people to be aware of their surroundings,’ Sheriff Masters said.’”

The double-homicide reference was to a pair of campers found shot in Utah’s La Sal Mountains, just a few hours from Telluride, last week. In an interview Thursday, Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Susan Lilly elaborated on the initial Facebook post. ... “The post has gotten upwards of 430,000 reaches,” Lilly said (meaning it has reached that many viewers). “It created an uproar.” ... The post was intended to raise awareness of an unusual situation in San Miguel County.

“We’re not trying to promote or encourage a sense of fear,” Lilly stressed. “We put it out there because there’s a pawn shop (full) of weapons in our backyard,” and there was “serious criminal activity” not that far away. ... Which raised a question: Were the killings in Utah, and the elaborate cache of weapons discovered in San Miguel County, linked to the same person? ... “No connection,” Masters said. The two cases “Are not connected in any way.”

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