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Police Arrest Tina Peters, Embattled Mesa County Clerk, In 'Active Investigation'

MESA COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was arrested by police on Tuesday morning. The Grand Junction Police Department says they were called to help the District Attorney's Office with an active investigation.

Charges are pending for obstruction of property, according to the Mesa County District Attorney's Office. An arrest affidavit is also being filed, therefore official details of the situation are not clear.

According to the Grand Junction Police Department, officers responded to a business in the 500 block of Main Street shortly before 10:45 a.m. Tuesday on a request to assist investigators with the Mesa County District Attorney's Office as they were executing a search warrant. Peters was arrested and released on scene, pending charges. The arrest is related to events that occurred on Tuesday and is not related to any other ongoing investigations.

The embattled clerk has been involved in an investigation into an alleged election security breach involving voting equipment from her office.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold filed a lawsuit last month to ban Peters from overseeing the 2022 elections.

tina peters
Tina Peters (credit: CBS)

Griswold's office has asked a Mesa County judge to appoint Brandi Bantz as the new Designated Election Official for Mesa County. She's also announced her intention to appoint former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams and current Mesa County Treasurer Sheila Reiner, both Republicans, as election supervisors to assist Bantz as needed.

The move is in direct response to Peters' refusal to confirm her intent to comply with security protocols as the chief election official in Mesa County. On Jan. 10, Griswold sent Peters an order and Certification and Attestation of Compliance, which would require Peters to certify that she would comply with election-related security protocols. Peters declined to sign the documents.

In November of last year, search warrants were served to Peters after voting system information turned up on public websites as revealed earlier in 2021 by Griswold. Federal agents, as well as investigators from the attorney general and district attorney's offices, were involved in the raid on Peters' home.

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