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Eagle County man pleads guilty to threatening to blow up Vail church

Brandon Bruce-Lund

Brandon Bruce-Lund, 31, of Avon, appeared in Eagle County District Court on Tuesday and entered a guilty plea to threatening to bomb a church in Vail.

The threat — a felony offense — was made on Dec. 14, 2019, from Bruce-Lund’s Facebook account, according to a release from the 5th Judicial District. His sentencing is set for 9 a.m. on Aug. 25.

After Bruce-Lund posted the threat to his Facebook page, an investigation by the Vail Police Department revealed that Bruce-Lund had no bomb components or capacity to manufacture an explosive weapon.



The main charge was making a “false report of an explosive” which is punishable by up to 18 months. Bruce-Lund’s guilty plea anticipates that he would be subjected to mental health treatment, as determined appropriate by the court at sentencing.

In addition to this charge, Bruce-Lund has three other cases pending and pleaded guilty to several more charges:

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  • Violating bail bond conditions, a class 6 felony
  • Three separate cases of harassment, all class 3 misdemeanors
  • Menacing, a class 3 misdemeanor.

During his crime spree, Bruce-Lund posted threats to the U.S. Army’s Fort Carson Military Installation’s Facebook page, sent threatening email messages to a local pastor at a Vail Church, left threatening voicemail messages for Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek (plus Facebook posts to the Eagle County Sheriff’s page), and called the Vail Public Safety Communications Center making threats to law enforcement officials and others.

“Social media platforms magnify the reach of people whose goal is to harass and intimidate others. Whenever a threat by use of weapons occurs, law enforcement will treat it as real and as prosecutors we will use the law effectively so that anyone who uses these methods will understand this is no joke,” said Bruce Brown, the 5th Judicial District Attorney. “Whether we seek for the court to sentence the defendant to receive treatment, jail, or some combination of the two, will be determined after the court has received a background investigation from the probation department and the victims can be heard.”


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