DENVER — A Mesa County District Court judge agreed Thursday to revoke Tina Peters’ bond and issue a warrant for her arrest after the indicted county clerk left the state without permission.
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein filed a motion asking Judge Matthew Barrett to do away with Peters’ $25,000 cash bond after receiving a notarized letter Wednesday that Peters had sent to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office — the notary crossed out “Colorado” on the letter and instead wrote “Nevada” and listed “Clark” as the county.
Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Peters, along with her deputy clerk Belinda Knisley, were out on bond after being indicted by a grand jury on allegations related to election equipment tampering. Peters is facing 10 charges.
Peters’ election manager Sandra Brown also was arrested this week in connection to the case. Brown turned herself in Monday and was released the following day on a $15,000 personal recognizance bond, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
Peters, Knisley and Brown were barred from overseeing Mesa County’s elections following lawsuits filed by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed to The Denver Post that it had received Peters’ letter Thursday morning. The letter asks for a recount of the Republican primary results for secretary of state as well as various records, including ballot drop box records and video surveillance. The letter was dated two days prior.
Peters, the prominent election denier who ran in the GOP primary for secretary of state, came in last but rejected the results of the race on June 28. However, because the vote counts did not come within the required percentage to trigger an automatic recount, Peters would have to pay for a recount herself. Fellow election conspiracy theorist Ron Hanks, who ran in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate and lost, also sent a letter demanding a recount that he would be required to pay for himself.
Both letters allege “malfeasance” in the June 28 primary, though there has been no factual evidence to corroborate these claims.
In his motion filed Thursday asking Barrett to revoke Peters’ bond, Rubinstein wrote that his office found out Peters was in Las Vegas, speaking at a conference for the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers’ Association. The notary also confirmed that Peters was with him in person when he signed her letter.
Rubinstein wrote in another court document filed Monday that Peters’ attorney Harvey Steinberg had requested that Peters be allowed to travel by filing a notice that she was traveling since she was a candidate for the GOP primary for secretary of state and needed to travel quickly for campaign purposes so that the “election was uninfluenced.”
The DA’s office agreed, but now Peters is not a candidate for office, so Rubinstein’s office said she should be treated like any other defendant and receive permission from the court if she wants to modify her bond and travel out of state.
“Additionally, she has evidenced through her travel prior to the election that she has the means to flee if she wants to,” the DA wrote.
The DA had objected on Monday to Peters’ defense filing a notice for travel without getting court approval after she had lost the election, and the judge ruled no travel would be authorized before receiving a response from the defense Friday and then issuing a ruling. Additionally, the defense had made no request for Peters to travel on the specific dates she traveled to Las Vegas, Rubinstein said.
Peters has been the subject of multiple state, local and federal investigations over the past year.
Steinberg and Peters did not return requests for comment Thursday.
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