A 34-year-old man from Craig pleaded guilty Wednesday in Routt County Court to criminal mischief, a Class 5 felony, for extensive damage he caused to the Routt County jail earlier this month.

Under the plea deal, the other charge against Glen Shaffer — one count of attempted escape — was dismissed. Additionally, Shaffer was sentenced to two years in prison on top of the three-year sentence he was serving.

Wednesday’s resolution brings to a close a case that erupted at the Routt County Detention Center on Feb. 18 when Shaffer, an inmate upset over not being able to make a phone call, went on a rampage that caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages to the facility.

Felonies are divided into six classes in Colorado with Class 6 being the lowest level. As part of his newest sentence, Shaffer was also ordered to pay $38,358 in restitution to the county, and the judge granted the prosecution an additional 35 days to supplement that figure based on actual costs, which after consulting with jail staff, has been capped at $50,000, according to the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

“I think this is a great result for Mr. Shaffer,” said Sean Brown, Shaffer’s defense attorney. “He acknowledges the damage he did to the county’s property, and he’s taking responsibility for that.”

Shaffer’s newest sentence will be served consecutively with his previous sentence, so he will have to finish serving out his first three-year sentence before he can start earning credit for the second.

On Feb. 7, Shaffer was convicted of two felonies — motor vehicle theft and theft. He was sentenced to three years in the state prison system and awaiting transfer from the Routt County jail to the Department of Corrections when the incident occurred Feb. 18.

Brown said the exact amount of prison time his client actually serves will be up to the Colorado Department of Corrections and based on a number of different factors.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Feb. 18, Shaffer erupted at the jail in an outburst that caused extensive damage to the facility. Detention center staff and deputies were called in to control Shaffer, who they said was armed with a pipe and “threatening to tear everything up,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Deputies reported seeing Shaffer breaking a two-pane glass window separating a restricted area known as Pod D from the facility’s main corridor. Shaffer also broke several windows in individual cells and a window between a dayroom and a bottom tier of jail cells in Pod D. The jail has five different pods that serve as living areas for different groups of inmates.

According to the affidavit, Shaffer went on to use his jail-issued mattress to protect himself from the broken glass in the window pane as he climbed through it to gain access to the main corridor that leads to each pod. The arrest report noted that all inmates were locked in their individual cells, as Shaffer used a yellow mop bucket to smash several more windows within the corridor.

The report says officers on the scene subdued Shaffer after forming an “entry crew” and shooting him with impact munitions fired from a 40-millimeter rifle and a bean bag shotgun. Shaffer was taken to the hospital for his injuries and charged with criminal mischief and attempted escape.

For the defense attorney, one key piece of the plea agreement was getting the attempted escape charge dropped.

“That was the greater of the two charges and, if convicted, (Shaffer) would have been looking at four to 12 years,” Brown said.

Prior to the plea agreement, Shaffer’s sister reached out to the Steamboat Pilot & Today trying to better explain what she and other family members believe happened at the jail that day. She attributed Shaffer’s destructive actions to a mental health crisis after his girlfriend did not show up for visiting hours as they had planned.

On Wednesday, Shaffer’s mom, Frinda Galey, relayed the same series of events, saying her son “was not in a good head space” after his girlfriend, who is typically very reliable, experienced car trouble and missed a planned visit.

Responding to questions about her reaction to her son’s sentence, Galey said she doesn’t dispute that her son damaged the jail, nor does she expect him to go unpunished for his actions.

“He did tear up the jail,” she said. “He’s got to pay the piper for that. That’s what that is. He did the damage. He’s got to pay for that. That’s fair enough.”

However, Galey added that she believes one of the reasons her son was experiencing such inner turmoil that day relates to a recent crime in which she says he was victimized and no one yet has been held accountable.

Shaffer was starting to serve a three-year sentence on previous theft charges when he went on the destructive tirade. Prior to being incarcerated for those charges, Galey said, Shaffer’s pickup truck was impounded, and Galey said it was left in an unsecured tow yard where someone broke into the vehicle and caused enough damage to destroy it.

In addition to some valuable coins her son had been collecting and other personal property, Galey said, the hardest part for her son was that the urn containing his father’s ashes was also taken.

Galey said she believes the theft against her son, which she doesn’t feel was ever investigated, led to his actions Feb. 18 when he tore up the jail. The mom also takes issue with the level of force and injuries her son suffered in the incident.

“He was victimized just like anybody else,” Galey said of the theft against her son. “You can call it karma if you want, but this isn’t karma. This is above karma. Like I said, all of his victims got everything back. Nothing was destroyed; nothing was broke. But everything he got back — or should I say didn’t get back — you know, he’s been blown off like he’s a dog. That’s what he says, ‘All I am is a dog to these people,’ and I don’t feel it’s right. Criminals have things that happen to them, too.”

Routt County Sheriff Doug Scherar said the alleged break-in of Shaffer’s pickup would have happened outside of Routt County and therefore not in the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s office. Had it been, Scherar said, his department would have investigated the allegations thoroughly.

Scherar added that the Routt County jail offers a variety of inmate services, including mental health services, Bible studies, substance abuse and addiction treatment and more. The sheriff said he cannot comment about what services Shaffer did or did not accept to maintain Shaffer’s privacy, but the sheriff said he takes pride in the different services they have been able to implement at the jail, many of which were put in place before they were mandated.

In terms of the Feb. 18 incident at the jail, Scherar said the biggest concerns for him and his staff were for the safety of the officers, other inmates and Shaffer himself.

Correction: This report has been updated to reflect that Glen Shaffer pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, which is a Class 5 felony.