The founder of a yoga studio who pleaded guilty to posing as an FBI agent and then assaulting and threatening to kill employees of a Boulder web-design firm in 2018 had his sentencing hearing delayed a month.
Daniel Shea, 46, pleaded guilty Monday to burglary, kidnapping, and extortion charges and three crime of violence sentence enhancers. He was set for a sentencing hearing today, but the hearing has been pushed back to June 14, according to court records.
Shea, who remains in custody at the Boulder County Jail on $1 million bond, is facing 25 to 40 years in prison.
Shea’s co-defendant in the case, John Sweeney, pleaded guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to work release and probation.
According to an arrest affidavit, two workers at the Goozmo web-design firm in Boulder were in their office at 1645 Canyon Blvd. on Feb. 9, 2018, when they took a meeting with Sweeney, who at the time only identified himself as “Davy.”
The two men told police that Shea then entered the building dressed in an “FBI uniform” — described as a raid vest with tactical gear, including a Taser, a knife and a gun in a holster — and along with Sweeney handcuffed the two men.
The two Goozmo employees said Shea had contracted them for a project involving his company, Yogible, which described itself as a yoga travel and teaching company.
According to the affidavit, Shea said the $30,000 he spent on the project had “ruined his life,” and demanded Goozmo repay him. The two employees told police Shea used a stun gun on them and threatened them with both a handgun and a knife — and said he’d hired people to kill their families.
Shea demanded $50,000 from the men — $30,000 to reimburse him for the project and $20,000 to pay for the hitmen he claimed he’d hired, though police do not believe any hitmen were actually hired.
Shea — who is from Oregon — was arrested in Lyons two days after the incident.
