EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — A man pleaded guilty Tuesday to threatening to bomb a church in Vail, though investigators discovered shortly after the threats were made that he did not have the capacity to do so.
On Tuesday, 31-year-old Brandon Bruce-Lund of Avon entered a guilty plea in Eagle County District Court in connection to threatening to bomb a Vail church, according to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The plea stemmed from an incident on Dec. 14, 2019, when Bruce-Lund posted multiple threatening messages online, according to the district attorney’s office. On Facebook, he threatened the U.S. Army’s Fort Carson Military Installation’s page and the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office page. In addition, he sent threatening email messages to a local pastor at a Vail church, left threatening voice mail messages for Eagle County Sheriff Van Beek and called the Vail Public Safety Communications Center making threats to law enforcement officials and others.
The Vail Police Department investigated his threats and found that Bruce-Lund did not have the components or capacity to build an explosive weapon. The details of his bomb threat against the church are unknown.
The main charge he faced was making a false report of an explosive, according to the district attorney’s office. This is punishable by up to 18 months behind bars. His guilty plea means he would also be subjected to mental health treatment, which the court will determine at his sentencing on Aug. 25.
Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said whenever a threat like this is made, law enforcement will treat it as a real risk, not a joke.
In addition to the charge associated with this case, Bruce-Lund had three other cases pending, and pleaded guilty to the following additional charges:
- Violating bail bond conditions
- Three separate cases of harassment
- Menacing