Affidavit Alleges Scheme To Ruin Ranch Owner By Neglecting Horses

(CBS4) --As a Grand County animal abuse investigation has progressed, the focus has turned away from the large herd of horses and instead toward the people who in charge of their care - and to what appears to be the surprising motivation that led to the horses' neglect.

Almost 100 criminal charges have been filed against two people who worked at the Snow Mountain Stables near Granby. County and state authorities took possession of 144 horses and hauled them to a rehab facility in Franktown in mid-January.

But it is the revelation about a possible motive - an employee's apparent plan to sabotage the operation at the stables and put himself in an ownership position - that has been the major development in the case.

To date, no charges reflecting such a conspiracy have been filed. But an arrest affidavit obtained by CBS4 shows how investigators stumbled onto the clandestine effort to undermine the business while questioning the employees.

A prosecutor in the case has refused to comment on future arrests or charges.

Derek Zurface was hired in August 2021 to be the ranch manager at the stables, an outfit that rented horses sleigh rides during winter and guided horseback tours in the summer, most often to guests of the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch. By November, deputies and animal control officers were visiting the property after the county received complaints from concerned citizens. Zurface, a 37-year-old from Texas, gave authorities free reign to explore and take account of the horse's condition. Authorities' findings were relatively minimal in those first visits, such as manure piling up and trash in the corrals, per the affidavit.
But as the number of citizen's complaints continued to mount, so did the visits from authorites. According to the affidavit, the conditions that those authorities observed began to worsen.

According to investigators, they eventually found ice-over access to frozen water troughs, horses eating snow to stay hydrated, empty feed mangers, and horses with saddle sores and open, infected wounds.

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On January 10, 2022, Grand County Sheriff's Office Det. James Miller discovered the horses had received little to no food or water over the course of a two-day blizzard. All the troughs were frozen, he said in the affidavit. One horse, dead approximately three weeks, had been placed in the back of a trailer. Three other dead horses were nearby, covered with snow.

The decision was made to intervene.

Det. Miller showed up the next day with a search warrant. He was accompanied by personnel from the Colorado Humane Society, plus trucks and trailers from Gilpin and Jefferson counties ready to load. So began a two-day effort to remove the animals and ship them more than two hours away to a rehab facility southeast of the Denver metro area.

In a conversation recorded on his body-worn camera, Det. Miller interviewed Zurface about the horses' condition.

"The conditions of these horses are horrible," Det. Miller said to Zurface, as quoted in the affidavit. "The water situation is just horrific."

Zurface, according to the affidavit, nodded his head up and down and said, "I agree."

"You are here every day," Det. Miller continued. "You're the boss. You're the head guy."

Zurface, according to Det. Miller's description, laughed slightly and, raising his arm, said, "I guess, yah. I mean, I have been here the longest."

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Det. Miller said, "Through all my contacts with you, you have been honest. But I think there's also something, a possibility of why, that you kind of got to this point here. You had hopes of running this place and this being yours. And if there were certain things that happened, that person would have been out of here."

Zurface replied, "Honestly, I did not intend to have any lack with any animal for care."

Det. Miller replied, as he described, sternly: "There's no way this got this f---ing bad overnight."

At one point, Det. Miller noticed wounds on a horse as he and Zurface stood in a corral.

"I did not finish (my sentence) due to a horse seen in very critical shape walked (sic) into my view," Miller wrote in the affidavit. "In mid-sentence, I said, 'look at this fricking cut on this, holy s--t.'"

That particular horse was immediately evaluated and euthanized, according to the affidavit. A ranch hand told investigators that horse had been rented for a ride two weeks earlier.

Zurface, according to Det. Miller's account, blamed the owner of the horses, Jim Peterman, for a lack of support.

Peterman and his girlfriend, Alysa Phiel, own the herd and, as private vendors, contracted with the Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA to provide the horses for rental.

By the time the horses were removed from the stables property, that contract was terminated, a spokesperson for the YMCA confirmed.

In the affidavit, Zurface complained that Peterman refused to repair or buy new equipment (in particular, water heaters to thaw out the troughs and a skid steer to haul hay bales), rarely sent a veterinarian to administer care to the horses, only made handful of visits himself to the stables, and threatened to dock employees' pay for any rides that were canceled.

Peterman contested those threats in an interview with Miller as his horses were removed from the stables. He stated that he had working water heaters already on site and purchased a new skid steer the first week of January, according to the affidavit.

Miller returned to Zurface and found the working water heaters in the locations Peterman claimed they were.

Peterman's veterinarian also met with Miller. He provided records of his several visits.

Zurface did not recognize the horse's vet, according to the affidavit.

It wasn't until Det. Miller talked with ranch hand Theresa LaGrande, a 23-year-old from California who was hired two months earlier, that the alleged to unseat Peterman came to light.

"I know the YMCA has been wanting to make a lot of changes and improvements up here for a very long time," LaGrande told later on Jan. 11.

Miller asked, "But they had to get Jim out of here to do that?"

"Exactly," LaGrande replied quietly, according to the affidavit.

Later, as LaGrande wiped away tears, Det. Miller said, "The things that were done with these horses and their care that slid a little bit..."

LaGrande interrupted: "The most imperative part right now is I wish things could have been a lot different. They could have been handled better."

"Like what," Det. Miller asked.

"Like being able to have a vet, on call to help," LaGrande said.

"You had a vet on call," Det. Miller said.

"Trying to get a farrier out here," LaGrande continued.

"You had a farrier on call, too," Det. Miller returned. "He (Zurface) knew all that."

When Det. Miller pressed LaGrande to be truthful, she replied, "I just don't want to jeopardize everything Derek and Todd have worked for right now."

That reference connected the YMCA's Nordic Director, Todd Lodwick to the case.

Lodwick, 45, a Colorado native, was hired by the Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA in September. He competed for the United States in six Olympics - "a feat unmatched by any U.S. Winter Olympian in all sports," according to his Colorado Sports Hall of Fame profile.

Lodwick's profile page on the YMCA's website is no longer active. CBS4's calls to the YMCA's spokesperson on the subject of Lodwick have not been returned.

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The horses removed from the Snow Mountain Stables were taken to the Harmony Center in Franktown, a facility run by the Dumb Friends League. Of those, 18 were judged by a DFL veterinarian, Courtney Diehl, to be permanently injured, lame or ill, and recommended they be medically retired.

However, many of the horses did not need treatment. A week after the authorities' seizure of the herd, 52 horses were returned to Peterman, their owner.

The rest of the herd was returned to him Feb. 22.

"They totally wrecked me, totally wrecked the business," Peterman told CBS4 a week later. "I got retired a month and a half ago. I think it's criminal what's going on there. It's criminal. What they did to me is plum criminal. They destroyed a business overnight."

Peterman has hired an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit. He wants laws changed, he said.

"I think the county bit off more than they can chew. There was no medical need to take any of them. I welcome anyone to come out and look at them. These horses are in fantastic shape. There are probably 150 horses where you can't see a rib on."

Peterman's vet, Mike Brooks, agreed.

"Why was that horse shot so quickly without a second opinion? Why did they have to physically remove them?" Brooks questioned. "I think the sheriff was showboating. I think the Humane Society was showboating. They were going to load up horses whether they needed to or not."

The Grand County Sheriff's Office has removed all the previous Facebook posts about the seizure.

DFL spokesperson Laurie Peterson confirmed that Peterman's horses were returned to him free of charge - because law enforcement did not charge him. Normally, owners of seized animals are billed for boarding at DFL facilities. The base fee is $16/day for each animal.

While she would not provide an amount, Peterson said significant money was spent on the treatment of the Snow Mountain Stables horses.

"We did a lot of medical for those horses," Peterson said. "Some didn't need anything (beyond basic boarding). We did what was best for the horses. We may never get that money back."

Peterman said many of the horses will go to auction due to his lack of income.

As for his employees, he said, "I don't think Derek or Theresa are guilty of neglect. I'm sorry they're getting charged."

Zurface was charged with 94 counts of Cruelty to Animals. Three of the charges are felonies. He is scheduled to appear in court for formal filing of charges March 28. A fundraiser was started by a Granby citizen to raise money for his defense.

LaGrande, facing the same charges, turned herself in Tuesday. She is due in court mid-April. Both she and Zurface were released after each paid a $1,000 bond.