A judge has sentenced a Ridgway man to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman in 2023 after he claimed he was drunk and thought she was his wife.
Brian Scranton, 49, hugged and kissed his wife and daughter before deputies handcuffed him and transported him to the Montrose County Jail at the end of his hearing on June 5. He will be transferred to the Colorado Department of Corrections to begin serving his sentence but remained in the county jail this week due to backlogs.
The sentence came seven years after he was found not guilty in another sex assault case in Ouray County. A jury in 2018 acquitted Scranton of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman during a house party.
Scranton, who was originally charged with sexual assault, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted sexual assault, a class 5 felony, as part of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors in March. The deal called for him to receive between one and six years in prison and be required to register as a sex offender.
***
The incident occurred in December 2023, after a night of drinking during Ridgway’s Noel Night celebration.
The woman told investigators she allowed Scranton and his wife, Susan, to spend the night in her studio apartment in Ridgway after they were too intoxicated to drive home from Steps Tavern. She said she went to sleep in her bed, while the Scrantons slept on a pullout couch. She said she woke up to Scranton on top of her, sexually assaulting her, while his wife slept in the same room.
In a series of text messages to the woman weeks later, Scranton admitted to the assault and claimed he thought the woman was his wife, according to court records. The Plaindealer does not name sex assault victims unless they agree to be identified or there are circumstances where their names were already made public and it cannot be avoided.
***
In testimony at the sentencing hearing and letters submitted to the court, attorneys, family members and community members presented disparate pictures of Scranton, a former chairman of the Ridgway Planning Commission and vice president of the Ridgway Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, who had a history of holding fundraisers for others and volunteering in the community.
Ridgway Mayor John Clark told the judge the assault caused far-reaching trauma to both the woman and the community.
“This crime has reopened wounds for past survivors, increased fear and judgment throughout town, forced difficult conversations,” he said.
He asked the judge to consider the broader impact of Scranton’s “act of violence.”
“We seek not only justice for the individual who was harmed but accountability that recognizes the harm that was inflicted on us all,” Clark said.
The woman and her family said Scranton inflicted lasting trauma on her and betrayed their trust — he was considered a member of her chosen family. The woman said Scranton showed no empathy or accountability for his actions, and she and her family accused Scranton and his family of minimizing the assault, spreading untrue stories about what happened and chalking it up to a misunderstanding.
“Brian, there is no version or narrative that justifies what you did to me,” the woman said.
The woman said before Scranton sexually assaulted her she wasn’t sure why some assault victims are reluctant to come forward, and that if she was ever assaulted, “you think you would scratch their eyeballs out.” But when it happened to her, she said, “you freeze, no fight, no flight, just freeze.”
She pointed out Scranton was “no stranger, but somebody I trusted.”
“You tricked, betrayed and manipulated our chosen family,” she said.
The woman said the narrative from Scranton, his family and supporters — that the assault was a “big misunderstanding” triggered by excessive drinking — is “disrespectful, not only to me, but my family, your family, our friends and our community.”
“I want to hate you, Brian, but I don’t, and that’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to realize,” the woman said. “I hope you break this cycle so healing can begin for all involved.”
The woman’s father also addressed the court, and said witnessing the trauma and despair his daughter has endured “has been and continues to be one of the most difficult challenges imaginable.”
He said Scranton’s lack of accountability and misrepresentation of what happened made it difficult for his family to cope.
“The defendant has never acknowledged any responsibility or bothered to reach out, and we’re hopeful this sentence will bring some justice for (her),” the father said.
***
Scranton’s attorney, Vince Felletter, cast him as a loving family man, successful career professional and community booster.
Friends, Scranton’s daughter, a former coworker and a current business partner vouched for Scranton in written or spoken statements to the court, saying he had an accomplished career as a marketing professional and pilot. They touted his reputation for altruistic deeds – he organized online fundraisers for families in need after a cancer diagnosis or death. He raised money to help build mountain bike trails and pay for medical bills. He even played in the Ridgway Secondary School pep band with the kids at basketball games.
Felletter had Scranton’s 16-year-old daughter speak on behalf of her father first at the sentencing hearing.
She said it was unfair for the community not to recognize the good deeds he has done here, and told the judge she needs her dad.
“He is the biggest light in my life. He has changed Ridgway for the better,” she said in court.
Scranton’s wife and mother were also present but did not speak.
Reading from a prepared statement, Scranton apologized to the woman, saying he thinks constantly about the night of the assault and how it affected her.
“I’m forever sorry,” he said. “And I’ll spend forever trying to make it right. And I hope you find peace. I hope you find happiness. I hope you break through the darkness, the darkness I and others have (created for) you. I’m so sorry.”
He claimed he’s been in a dark place, his “own personal prison,” for the last 18 months. He said he has no memory of the night of the assault, in which he admitted to getting in bed with the woman and having sexual contact with her after vomiting in her bathroom.
“And I’m 49. Who does that?” he said.
Much of the rest of his comments focused on revisiting good times his family had with the woman in the past, sharing holidays and celebrations. In his final words, he apologized to the community.
“To a community I love so much, this place has my heart. It always has. Thank you for the opportunity to apologize. Thank you for your kindness and patience. No matter what happens today, I hope you know I will be better,” he said. *** These words echoed some of the comments Scranton made in a letter he wrote to the Plaindealer in 2022, which was never printed because he wanted it published without using his name. It is against the Plaindealer’s policy to publish anonymous letters.
“I’ve had enough (public relations) to last a lifetime,” he wrote in an email, asking if it could be published with just his first name or only in the printed paper where he presumed it would not be searchable on the internet.
In the letter he wrote three years ago, Scranton said he and the woman who had accused him of raping her in 2015 at a Ridgway house party would never agree on the details of what happened that night. He was acquitted by a jury in that case, in which she told investigators she knew she had been assaulted when she was unconscious and DNA evidence indicated Scranton had sex with her. He initially denied having sex with her but later said it was consensual after the DNA results were found.
In the letter he wanted published anonymously, Scranton appealed to the community to stand up for sex assault survivors.
“We all live here because it’s the most beautiful place on Earth. It’s not just our surroundings — it’s the people; it’s the community that we’ve come to love because whenever there is a person in need there’s people ready to stand up and help. There are few places like that. And a fracture in our community is a fracture in our collective energy to do good,” he wrote.
He mused about what would have happened if he had made different choices the night of the alleged assault and insisted the community must do more to help sex assault survivors.
“We can do better. We HAVE to do better,” he wrote. “This is one of the most important conversations of our generation. We can’t hide from it and we certainly can’t hide it from our kids. Things need to change, so … I raise my hand; I’ll be first in line to help make that change a reality. Because the last thing I want is for my little girl (or anyone for that matter) to experience even a fraction of what others have experienced.”
“It’s been 7 years. It’s time for us to be better.” Nearly one year to the date after writing the letter, after drinking himself to the point of vomiting, Scranton got into bed with a woman who thought of him as an uncle and sexually assaulted her. *** Felletter argued Scranton’s actions were less aggravated than other assault cases. Drawing groans and protests from several of the woman’s supporters, he claimed the assault lasted “only a few seconds,” that no force or threats were involved, and that it wouldn’t have happened but for Scranton’s confusion and intoxication.
“I submit to you the fact that this incident was brief, nonviolent and mitigated by the fact that he was intoxicated,” Felletter said.
He cast Scranton as a resilient person who lost a 25-year career in marketing as a result of this case but stayed in Ridgway despite the “stigma” he has endured and created another career for himself as a flight instructor to support his wife and daughter.
“He didn’t give up. He accepted responsibility for his mistake and he moved forward,” Felletter said.
Felletter said Scranton is seeing a therapist in Montrose and underwent a psychosexual evaluation that concluded he was a below-average risk to reoffend. He also said the probation officer who interviewed Scranton to compile a presentence report disagreed with the plea agreement and recommended instead that Scranton be sentenced to two years of probation, citing his previous criminal history limited to a DUI conviction.
Felletter asked the judge to impose the minimum oneyear prison sentence but suspend it and place Scranton on intense, supervised probation with sex-offender treatment, a sentence that would allow him to avoid incarceration if he completed treatment and stayed out of legal trouble.
***
In his ruling, Seventh Judicial District Chief Judge Cory Jackson made it clear he thought neither a sentence to probation nor a sentence to the maximum of six years was appropriate.
He said he was surprised the probation officer didn’t agree with a prison sentence and called the recommendation for probation “a pretty extraordinary situation to put us in.”
He also said the public has made it clear it wants to eliminate a culture of tolerance for sexual assault and the prison sentence is intended to reflect that interest.
The judge said he was choosing a sentence that fits the seriousness of the crime, acknowledges the impact to the woman and the community and deters crimes like these.
He acknowledged sentiments from Scranton’s supporters that he is hard-working, educated and devoted.
“But I think the nature of this offense itself is revealing and shows true character and a set of character traits that are very much to the contrary,” Jackson said.
Editor’s note: If you or anyone else needs help with sexual assault resources, please call either the National Domestic Violence Center 24/7 hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or the National Sexual Assault 24/7 hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help us keep doing it, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Plaindealer through Report for America on our dedicated donation page here.
