Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has been indicted by a grand jury on 10 counts related to an ongoing investigation into alleged election equipment tampering and official misconduct, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Peters, a Republican candidate for Colorado secretary of state, faces seven felony charges and four misdemeanors stemming from allegations she violated security protocols last summer in an attempt to prove unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

The charges include three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of criminal impersonation and one felony identity theft charge, and two felony conspiracy charges. She’s also been charged with first degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with an order issued by the Colorado Secretary of State, all misdemeanors.

Belinda Knisley, the Mesa County deputy clerk, faces six charges, including four felonies and two misdemeanor counts.

The 13-count indictment against Peters and Knisley was returned by the Mesa County grand jury Tuesday night, 21st Judicial District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said in a release.

Arrest warrants have been issued on the charges. Late Wednesday morning, a court ordered bond for Peters set at $500,000 — cash only — and set the same bond for Knisley.

A spokesman for Peters and her legal defense fund didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mesa County Grand Jury Indictment

The new charges aren’t related to a contempt of court citation issued last week by a Mesa County judge involving allegations Peters violated court rules by recording proceedings in another case and then lied about it to a different judge. Peters also faces obstruction charges related to law enforcement officers’ attempts to serve a search warrant in that contempt case.

Rubinstein and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a joint statement on Wednesday describing the indictments and characterizing the grand jury as belonging to the same population of Mesa County residents that voted Peters into office as the county’s top election official in 2018.

“Yesterday, the Mesa County grand jury returned an indictment after the presentation of evidence in an ongoing investigation into the alleged election system breach in Mesa County,” Rubinstein and Weiser said.

“The grand jury, randomly selected from the same pool of citizens that elected Clerk Tina Peters and chosen months before any of these alleged offenses occurred, concluded there is probable cause that Clerk Peters and Deputy Clerk Knisley committed crimes.”

They said that a grand jury determines whether probable cause of criminal activity has been established and stressed that the charges still must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

Added the prosecutors: “This investigation is ongoing, and other defendants may be charged as we learn more information. We remind everyone that these are allegations at this point and that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Tina Peters – Amended Arrest Warrant

Peters maintains that she hasn’t broken any laws and instead has been trying to unearth evidence of voter fraud, though computer experts say her claims are largely based on misunderstandings about how computer systems and elections work.

Peters declared last month that she’s challenging Secretary of State Jena Griswold, the Democrat whose office discovered the alleged election equipment breach last summer and ordered Mesa County to replace its election equipment after secure passwords and copies of the election system software appeared online. 

Griswold successfully sued to prevent Peters from overseeing the county’s off-year election based on evidence presented to a judge that Peters helped unauthorized people gain access to voting equipment and software and attempted to cover it up. Earlier this year Griswold filed a similar lawsuit to block Peters from running this year’s election.

Belinda Knisley – Amended Arrest Warrant

In a written statement to Colorado Politics, Griswold said election officials who abuse their position “must be held accountable.”

“Every eligible Coloradan — Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated alike — has the right to make their voice heard in safe, accessible, and secure elections,” Griswold said. “To do that, we need election administrators who are committed to following the law and election rules. Officials tasked with carrying out elections do so in public trust and must be held accountable when they abuse their power or position. As secretary of state, I will always protect Colorado’s election infrastructure and Coloradans’ right to vote, which means upholding election laws and rules to ensure the security and integrity of the state’s elections.”

One of the Republicans running against Peters in the primary, former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, said it’s time for Colorado to have a “drama-free” secretary of state and said the indictments “further erode voter confidence.”

“I believe that secretary of state is the most important race in Colorado,” Anderson said. “It is a serious job that requires integrity and trust.”

Saying that she believes in “public service, respect for the law, respect for public safety professionals and upholding the oath I took as an elected official,” Anderson added: “The contrast for voters is clear. It is time to remove the distractions and return a competent and trusted professional back to the office.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.