By Amber McIver-Traywick

The Surveyor

Monday, Jan. 13, the Longmont man who was arrested for firing a weapon outside of the Lehman Printing Center in Berthoud in May 2019 was sentenced to six years in prison.

Rhett Williams, 35, of Longmont appeared before Judge Stephen Howard at the Larimer County courthouse in Fort Collins where he pleaded guilty to the charges of a Class 4 felony second-degree burglary charge, and a Class 5 felony charge of menacing with a weapon.

The charges stem from an incident that took place May 10, 2019, when Williams, a former press-room employee of the Lehman Printing Center fired a gun into the air outside the building after entering the facility looking for a previous supervisor who was not there at the time. Casey Cole, a current Lehman Printing Center employee, spoke with Williams when he initially entered the building that night looking for the supervisor and was eventually able to persuade him to return to his vehicle. Cole then returned to the building, locked the doors, and alerted his co-workers of the situation.

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office received reports of shots being fired shortly after at approximately 11:37 p.m. outside of the 801 N. Second St. facility.

Williams’ attorney Kathryn Hay said her client suffers from mental illness and does not remember the night the event took place. Court appearances had been delayed in the case because of Williams’ mental health concerns. Williams made the choice to forgo a jury trial.

Colorado court records show Williams’ only other previous arrests were two DUIs made by Longmont Police in 2001 and 2007.