A judge has ordered a Ridgway man found in contempt of court to pay a $2,500 fine for not following the court’s orders and continuing to harass a local business.
Ouray County Judge Kurt Beckenhauer ruled David Gottorff violated a protection order obtained by Colorado Boy when he continued to retaliate against the establishment that banned him in 2019. On Tuesday, Beckenhauer listened to arguments from Gottorff’s attorney, Dan Shaffer, and Colorado Boy attorney Roger Sagal before sentencing Gottorff to pay the fine and warning him the permanent protection order is still in place.
During an 8-hour hearing last month, the judge considered evidence showing Gottorff placed stickers with an altered logo from the brewpub across the region in an effort to encourage others to boycott the business. He also heard testimony about numerous social media posts from an Instagram page urging people to boycott Colorado Boy and targeting patrons as well as brewpub staff.
Shaffer didn’t dispute any of the evidence showing Gottorff placed the stickers, including video surveillance from a Montrose liquor store showing him doing so on a beer cooler, or that he posted negative remarks on Instagram. While Shaffer characterized Gottorff’s behavior as “childish” he argued he’s protected by the First Amendment.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO EVIDENCE FROM THE LIQUOR STORE PRESENTED IN COURT
Though the judge ruled Gottorff’s communication was meant to reach the protected parties – Colorado Boy’s owners and employees – he didn’t order Gottorff to take down the stickers or the posts in the sentencing hearing Tuesday.
Among his requests, Sagal asked the court to order Gottorff to take down the boycott page, to retrieve all the stickers and stop using the altered logo without permission.
“We know he can do this because his Instagram page is essentially a diary of his travels to various locations throughout the western part of the state to sample craft breweries,” Sagal said.
Sagal also asked the court to prohibit Gottorff from consuming alcohol and impose random alcohol testing as well as award court costs and attorney’s fees. During the last hearing on the case, Sagal previously asked the court to impose a $10,000 fine, but increased his request to $20,000, considering the evidence he collected after the judge’s decision.
After Beckenhauer ruled Gottorff was in “willful contempt” of court by continuing to violate the protection order, new posts appeared on the Instagram page. A Feb. 17 post featured a photo of one of the Colorado Boy boycott stickers with the altered logo stuck on the back of a stop sign in Ouray, with the courthouse in the background. “There is no justice for a rabbit in a fox’s court… the inalienable right to free speech shall abide no infringement!!!!!” the post said, including #corruptjudge as a hashtag.
Other posts since the hearing have targeted the “deplorable staff” at Colorado Boy and encouraged people to “boycott the brewery that’s hated by visitors and despised by locals.”
“Mr. Gottorff’s violations are numerous, escalatory in nature and continue to this day,” Sagal said, arguing all he had to do was stop harassing Colorado Boy. “Instead he seems to have made it his pastime or his hobby.”
Sagal called Gottorff a “man of leisure” who has the time to harass others, as well as the financial means to travel and purchase all the beers he posts about online.
Gottorff previously told the Plaindealer in 2019 he’s retired and only works for beer money. He told County Court Judge Sean Murphy in previous hearings he works a few hours a week as a process server currently, serving court papers in the region.
Gottorff has repeatedly applied to the court for indigency, requesting his fees and costs be waived and for an attorney to be provided to him in his criminal and civil cases. He has said in court he has little to no income, and cannot afford his own legal counsel, but doesn’t want the public defender appointed to serve him. That’s how Shaffer, a Grand Junction attorney, was appointed as alternate defense counsel in this civil case. Gottorff has also asked the court to allow Shaffer to represent him in his pending criminal cases, including one involving an alleged harassment charge.
Gottorff has obtained financial help from others besides the court-appointed counsel. According to Ouray County records, the $1,721.90 property tax bill for Gottorff’s home at 756 Charles St. was paid for by the Telluride Foundation, a regional nonprofit organization, in April 2020.
It’s not entirely clear where Gottorff’s financial resources come from, though he is connected to a trust fund used to buy at least one property in Arizona.
The home Gottorff purchased for $409,000 in 2017 in Ridgway doesn’t have a mortgage, according to county property records.
Citing Gottorff’s indigency and a financial situation the court finds “somewhat murky,” Beckenhauer declined to impose the larger fine requested by Sagal. He also declined to impose a punitive prison sentence, in the absence of making Gottorff take down the stickers or the Instagram page, citing Gottorff’s ongoing criminal cases which include possible jail sentences if he is convicted.
Beckenhauer agreed with Shaffer, who argued Sagal had not previously requested remedial sanctions in July 2020 when he made the motion to hold Gottorff in contempt of court, and he only requested punitive sanctions. This allows the court to impose a sentence that would include a punishment like fine or jail, but doesn’t allow remedial actions such as ordering Gottorff to do something to get himself out of contempt, such as removing stickers.
Editor’s note: Gottorff was also involved in an incident at a local liquor store in May 2020. Click here to read that story.
