Defendant sentenced to six years

The man arrested in connection with a Nederland house explosion was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday.

Jason Korte, 45, pleaded guilty in February to child abuse, fourthdegree arson and possession of an explosive device.

The plea agreement included a stipulation that Korte would serve between six and 12 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, and at a hearing Wednesday Boulder District Judge Thomas Mulvahill elected to go with the minimum prison sentence.

“It is true that the defendant’s conduct placed at high risk not only the homeowner, but also his children who were visiting,” Mulvahill said. But the judge also noted Korte “has always admitted and accepted responsibility for the conduct he engaged in.” Mulvahill also pointed to Korte’s lack of prior felony convictions and a stable family situation as mitigating factors in the case, as a pre-sentence investigation found Korte was likely a low risk to reoffend.

Korte at the hearing apologized for his actions.

“(I) just wanted to accept responsibility again for the long list of foolish things that I did,” Korte said. “I know it was dangerous, in hindsight it was very foolish and stupid.”

According to an arrest affidavit, the explosion happened in the first-floor living room of a home in the 200 block of Alpine Drive in Nederland on July 3, 2020. The explosion blew out windows on the first and second floors and also shattered a sliding door and buckled several doorways.

While the sprinkler system put out the resulting fire, Korte was injured in the explosion and taken to a hospital to be treated for burns. The owner of the house, a woman, was also on scene but was not injured.

According to the affidavit, when fire crews went inside the home, they saw about 20 oxygen cylinders, commercial fireworks, rifles including an AR-15 and an AK-47, and boxes labeled “explosive.”

In an interview with federal agents at the hospital, Korte said the initial explosion was caused when he moved a box of explosive materials from his kitchen to the living room.

Once investigators obtained a warrant for the address, a team did a search of the home and found three gallons of hash oil concentrate along with butane and other supplies used in the marijuana extraction process. They also found 24 mature mari