(The Center Square) – A Colorado man who threatened Democratic election officials in Colorado and Arizona was sentenced to 37 months Thursday in a federal prison.
Teak Ty Brockbank pleaded guilty in October to making threats against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, former Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Colorado state judge and federal law enforcement in 2021 and 2022. Hobbs is now governor of Arizona. Brockbank’s guilty plea was to one count of interstate threat.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews in Colorado noted the current increase in threats against government officials, according to various media reports. The public must not find that to be an acceptable norm, said Crews, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
In addition to his time in prison, Brockbank was sentenced to three years supervised release after he’s served his time, according to CBS News Colorado. Brockbank was also ordered to pay $100 to the Crime Victim Fund.
After the sentencing, Griswold commented on the case in a news release emailed Thursday to The Center Square.
“The far right has spread conspiracy theories to incite threats and violence against secretaries of state and election officials,” she said. “I will not be intimidated, and I will not back down in protecting our democracy and our freedoms.”
Brockbank was arrested in August 2024 in Cortez, Colorado, when Griswold was in the hospital delivering her child, according to the news release from her office. He was in unlawful possession of firearms when he was arrested.
He has been in custody since his arrest in August 2024.
Through his counsel in the case, Brockbank said he was influenced by online conspiracy theories and asked for leniency. He cited President Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, the Secretary of State’s Office said in the news release.
At least three other people have either been convicted of or pleaded guilty to making threats of violence against Griswold, her office noted.
In March, a Florida man was sentenced to two years in prison for making threats against Griswold and others, as previously reported by The Center Square. Richard Kantwill, a dentist from Tampa, was charged in November on four counts of interstate transmission of a threat. Kantwill called Griswold the “number 1 target” in threats he made on Feb. 9, 2024 after the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson. Griswold was a respondent in the litigation.
Since the case was filed in September 2023, Griswold has received over 2,300 threats, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
