Courthouse staff in Mesa County have received multiple threats following last week’s sentencing of former Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters to nearly nine years in prison for her role in an elections systems security breach.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the threats, and extra security measures are being implemented, according to spokesperson Wendy Likes.
She did not describe the number or nature of the threats and did not disclose the additional security measures in order to “ensure their effectiveness.”
Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced Peters on Thursday. During that proceeding, he twice called Peters, a Republican, a “charlatan” who peddled snake oil.
In 2021, Peters allowed access to a county election systems upgrade to an unauthorized person, a security breach intended to find evidence of voting machine fraud or manipulation. She was found guilty in August of three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one misdemeanor count of official misconduct, one misdemeanor count of violation of duty in elections, and one misdemeanor count of failure to comply with the secretary of state.
Peters’ lawyer, John Case, told Colorado Newsline on Monday that he had not heard of any threats to Barrett or Mesa County courthouse employees.
“Obviously, I condemn any threats to anyone in this case on either side,” he said.
After the sentencing, many far right personalities criticized the result online. Colorado conservative activist Joe Oltmann posted on Facebook that he seeks to “hold the corrupt trash judge and the treasonous traitors accountable for what they did to Tina.”
Julie Kelly, who has over 700,000 followers on X and is known for promoting election denial conspiracy theories, called Barrett “one of many dangerous and unaccountable judges criminalizing free speech in America.”
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and X.