An attorney representing the developer proposing major redevelopment in Dillon has sent letters threatening legal action against two town residents while also recommending criminal charges against one of them.

Attorney Caroline Kwak, a representative of Developer Jake Porritt and his company JPJD Dillon, sent cease-and-desist letters this week to Dillon residents Laura Johnson and Barbara Richard. Richard is a candidate for Dillon Town Council running to potentially replace one of the three candidates subject to a potential recall in the upcoming election Tuesday, March 4.

Both Richard and Johnson are members of the committee that initiated the recall election. Current Dillon Town Council members John Woods, Dana Christiansen and Renee Imamura face removal from office in the upcoming election, while candidates Richard, Linda Oliver, Joshua Samuel and Claudia Pillow are running to take the place of any town council member that is recalled.

Kwak also sent a letter, dated Feb. 20, to 5th Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum asking McCollum to investigate Johnson and prosecute her under a state law that prohibits knowingly or recklessly making false statements designed to affect an election.

The cease-and-desist letters state that Johnson and Richard have disseminated false and misleading information, interfered with the developer’s contracts by submitting competing development plans including properties that the developer is under contract to purchase and had unauthorized contact with the developer’s business partners.

“They have political and business interests that they are trying to push forward, and we’re not just going to sit by anymore and continue to let them spread misinformation,” Kwak said Wednesday, Feb. 26, in an interview with Summit Daily News. “At the end of the day, the disservice is to the residents of the town of Dillon.”

Both Johnson and Richard told Summit Daily News on Wednesday that they do not believe that the cease-and-desist orders hold merit. The two said they believe the letters were issued in an effort to silence their concerns related to Porritt’s proposed projects in Dillon and the metropolitan district established to help fund infrastructure related to those projects.

“I find the letter to be ridiculous — absolutely ridiculous,” Richard said. “I find it to be an attempt to squash my First Amendment rights … It is definitely a tactic to keep me from speaking and keep me from going out and finishing my campaigning.”

Also responding to Summit Daily’s questions about the cease-and-desist letter, Johnson said, “I stand by everything I’ve said, and I have the documents to back it up. I think that they don’t want us to stand up and talk.”

Johnson said she found out that Kwak had referred potential criminal charges to the district attorney through a third party. She added, “they are doing this to threaten and intimidate citizens in the town of Dillon, which has really been their modus operandi the whole time. If that’s how you want to do business, that’s your choice. My goal is to let the citizens of Dillon know the potential risk of these decisions that the three people under recall have made for our town.”

At a referendum election last fall, Dillon residents voted to overturn the Town Council’s approval of Porritt’s proposal to build a structure with 200 condo units, three restaurants, retail space and more at the site where the Best Western and defunct-Arapahoe Cafe stand. He has said he now plans to build a fully-private residential structure at the site instead.

Porritt has also proposed a grocery store and parking garage at the site where Pug Ryan’s Brewery and a structure known as the Payne building currently exist and a workforce housing project nearby in the town core. He also purchased the bankrupt and incomplete condominium development, once known as Uptown 240, in the town core with plans to resume construction under a new name, Waterview Residences.

Some Dillon residents, including those who called for the recall election, have most recently opposed the Town Council’s expressed interest in moving forward on a private-public partnership for the grocery store and parking garage project.

Kwak said that the intent of the cease-and-desist letters and the referral to the district attorney is not to squash legitimate public concern or discussion about the redevelopment of downtown Dillon.

“There is no action … being taken against the residents of Dillon who want to participate in the process and voice their concern. We welcome that sort of action from the community, and we have welcomed it,” Kwak said. “We also want people to make informed decisions, and we’ve been trying to address the misinformation but also outright lies that are being told in the communities by a very small group of self-interested people who are trying to push an agenda.”