Nederland Attempted Bomber Sentenced To 27 Years For Revenge Plot

DENVER, CO -- Ex-hippie David Ansberry, 67, was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a federal judge for placing a homemade bomb outside the Nederland police station in 2016. Judge Christine Arguello applied a terrorism enhancement to Ansberry's sentence, assesiing that his actions were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government or to retaliate against government conduct.

Ansberry, a former member of the counter-culture group, Serenity, Tranquility, and Peace, which was active in Nederland in the 1960s and 1970s, placed a radio-controlled explosive device in a backpack outside of the police station on Oct. 11, 2016, according to court records. Ansberry attempted to set off the explosives by calling an attached phone several times from the Boulder Creek Lodge, a motel across the street, but the bomb did not detonate. Police discovered the plot when a detective arrived to work the next morning and brought the pack inside, assuming it was lost property.

After his Oct. 16 arrest at O'Hare Airport, FBI agents found stickers in Ansberry's possession featuring the STP logo that matched a sticker left at the scene of the crime. That sticker had been embellished with a hand-written message, "RIP Deputy Dawg Murdered by Marshal, 7/17/71." An entry in a journal recovered from Ansberry read, "Poor Deputy. REVENGE is called for." Officials believe that "Deputy Dawg" is a reference to Guy Howard Gaughnor, who was murdered in Nederland in 1971.

Former Nederland Marshal Renner Forbes confessed to the killing of Guy “Deputy Dawg” Gaughnor in 1997 but was never prosecuted according to the Denver Post.

Ansberry was identified as a suspect after FBI agents were able to link him to two cell phones used in the plot and obtain surveillance footage of those phone purchases, according to a criminal complaint in the case. Both phones were bought at Colorado King Soopers locations by a short male using crutches — Ansberry is 3'6" — with a ponytail and a baseball hat. The Nederland Chief of Police reported seeing the suspect in the area on the day of the incident, and the Boulder Creek Inn was able to identify Ansberry with a senior citizen's card that had been on file with his reservation.

Ansberry pled guilty to the crime in a July 2017 plea agreement to charges of use and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

“We’re pleased that the Court saw this case for what it is – an act of domestic terrorism. These are among the most serious cases that we prosecute,” said United States Attorney Jason Dunn in a statement. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we are committed to aggressively prosecuting these cases to protect the life and safety of all our citizens, particularly those who serve and protect the public.”

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