Man who threatened to kill Arizona election official pleads guilty

DENVER (AZFamily/AP) – A man repeatedly threatened online to kill top election officials in Arizona and his home state of Colorado – both Democrats – as well as a judge and law enforcement officials, according to a guilty plea he entered Wednesday.

Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, admitted to a federal judge in Colorado that his comments were made “out of fear, hatred and anger” as he sat in a khaki prison uniform before pleading guilty to communicating interstate threats.

The former Cave Creek, Arizona, resident faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 3.

According to court documents obtained by Arizona's family, the 45-year-old made posts on Rumble, a social media platform that works like YouTube, and Gab, which is like X (formerly known as Twitter), where he threatened officials in both states from September 2021 to August 2022, including then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.

For example, investigators said on October 2, 2021, he threatened a judge in Colorado by saying he could “take my gun and I could put a bullet in this man's head and send him to declare himself to our Creator immediately.” “I would be justified!!!”

The FBI said he posted a message on August 4, 2022, saying that once Arizona and Colorado election officials “started being executed, the rest would melt like snowflakes and attack each other.” . . This is the only way.”

According to court documents, on July 20, 2022, he also threatened federal law enforcement by saying, “ATF, CIA, FBI come to my house, I'll shoot them (expletive) first.” No warning!!”

Details of the plea agreement were not immediately released. His attorney, Thomas Ward, declined to comment after the hearing.

Griswold has been outspoken about election security across the country and has received threats in the past for insisting that the 2020 election was secure. Her office says she has received more frequent and violent threats since September 2023, when a group of voters filed a lawsuit seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the Colorado primary.

“I will not be intimidated and will continue to ensure that every eligible Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated voter can make their voice heard in our elections,” Griswold said in a statement issued after Brockbanks’ appeal.

Investigators say Brockbank began expressing the view that violence against public officials was necessary in late 2021. According to an arrest filing, Brockbank told investigators after his arrest that he was not a “vigilante” and hoped his posts would simply “wake people up.” He has been detained since his arrest on August 23 in Cortez, Colorado.

Brockbank criticized the government's response to Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who was convicted this year of allowing a breach of her election system based on false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential campaign, according to court documents.

He was also upset in December 2023 after a divided Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state's presidential ballot.

In an August 2022 social media post referring to Griswold and Hobbs, Brockbank said: “Once these people are killed, the others will melt like snowflakes and attack each other,” according to copies of the threats contained in court Documents.

In September 2021, Brockbank said Griswold needed to “hang by her neck until she was dead, dead, dead” and said he and other “everyday people” needed to hold her and others accountable, according to prosecutors.

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