A Norwood man was recently convicted of making threats against Western Slope public officials in the second federal case against him for such offenses. 

Bryan Cornwell, 41, was found guilty on two counts of transmitting threats on Jan. 23. The Durango federal jury found him not guilty on a third count. He will be sentenced April 2.

Federal prosecutors accused Cornwell of sending messages to a law enforcement official which included threats to injure and kill the official. 

“As God is my witness you are going to suffer in agony slowly begging for death like you deserve,” stated one of the messages as recounted in the grand jury indictment against Cornwell. 

“I’m going to crush you,” stated another. “You’re an example of what’s wrong with the world and I’m going to see your lights extinguished! You don’t deserve the air you breathe.”

Cornwell allegedly sent more than 80 profanity-laced diatribes to the official in less than three months.

When he sent the messages between August and October 2023, Cornwell was on conditional release from prison and awaiting trial in an earlier federal case. That case began in February 2022 when federal investigators questioned Cornwell about his girlfriend’s fatal fentanyl overdose. 

Cornwell was terminated from his position with Telluride Ski Patrol less than a week later. He performed avalanche control with explosives but failed a drug test, per case documents. 

Three months after his girlfriend’s death, Cornwell lashed out against U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel located in Grand Junction. Cornwell texted an investigator that he was “done” and intended to blow up the FBI’s office in Grand Junction and two businesses, including the restaurant where his late girlfriend was previously employed. 

“I’ve got 800lbs ready to go,” the text stated, according to case documents. 

A warrant for Cornwell’s arrest was issued that same day. 

After his arrest, Cornwell was granted conditional release in September 2022. 

The emailed threats making up his second case, likely made against someone involved with that first case, began 11 months later. 

Cornwell was then arrested again by a combination of federal, state and county law officers.

The first case concluded last December with Cornwell’s guilty plea to a single count of making threats involving explosives. The judge sentenced Cornwell to time already served in prison awaiting the outcome of the case. But Cornwell was not released due to the second case.

Per federal sentencing guidelines, Cornwell could receive a five-year prison sentence for each of the two counts in the second case. The judge, however, can add to the sentence based on aggravating circumstances. Severity and specificity of the threats, and criminal history of the defendant, are two factors taken into consideration.