Grand Junction Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Destroying Acres of Federal Land With A Bulldozer

GRAND JUNCTION – United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced that Robert Timothy Allen was sentenced yesterday by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger to serve 13 months in federal prison for depredation of federal property.  In addition to the prison sentence, Allen was ordered to serve 3 years on supervised release and pay $20,300 in restitution to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to repair the land he damaged.  At sentencing, Judge Krieger emphasized that Allen’s felony conviction means he can no longer legally possess firearms. Another fact considered by the Judge at sentencing was that Allen made threats to turn his arrest into an armed conflict. 

Defendant Allen was indicted in 2016 and charged for damaging federal land in Saguache County between July 24, 2013, and May 22, 2014.  After indictment, Allen evaded arrest for nearly two years before being arrested and ultimately detained in 2018.  According to evidence presented at trial, Allen dug-up about three acres of federal land with a bulldozer.  While he claimed to be lawfully prospecting federal land, he received four official notices from the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety that he was violating the law and directing him to stop.  After refusing to stop violating the law, he was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s office. 

Allen was convicted following a three day trial that ended on August 14, 2019.  The jury took less than an hour of deliberation to convict him. 

“The defendant damaged precious resources that will take money and time to repair,” said U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn.  “The consequences of his actions, and his felony conviction, will follow him for the rest of his life.”

“We appreciate the hard work of everyone involved in ensuring we live up to the public’s trust in our management of the public’s land,” said BLM Colorado State Director Jamie Connell.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeremy Chaffin and Kelly Winslow.