A Cortez man accused of making detailed threats toward Colorado election officials, state judges and law enforcement officers on social media pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court.
Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, admitted guilt after previously pleading not guilty to making interstate threats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 3 and he faces up to five years in prison.
Investigators said Brockbank, who has been jailed since his Aug. 23 arrest, began making threats on social media against election officials including Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now the state’s governor.
In an August 2022 post, referring to Griswold and Hobbs, Brockbank wrote, “Once those people start getting put to death then the rest will melt like snowflakes and turn on each other. … This is our only way. So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we all [a]re going to do!!!!!! It is time,” according to screenshots included in court documents.
Brockbank also allegedly threatened in October 2021 to use his rifle to “put a bullet” in the head of a Colorado judge who had overseen his probation on his fourth driving under the influence conviction, prosecutors wrote in an Aug. 27 motion requesting Brockbank remain behind bars.
In July 2022, he allegedly posted he would shoot employees of the FBI, CIA and ATF who showed up at his house, investigators wrote in court documents. After Brockbank’s arrest, authorities found six firearms in his house, including a loaded one next to his front door, even though he can’t legally possess firearms due to a felony conviction of attempted theft by receiving stolen property in Utah in 2002.
The federal investigation was launched in August 2022 after the FBI was notified of Brockbank’s posts referring to Griswold on Gab and Rumble, an alternative video-sharing platform that has been criticized for allowing far-right extremism, court documents said.
Brockbank was charged for making repeated threats between September 2021 to August 2022, but investigators found he continued making violent threats toward public officials, according to court documents.
In December 2023, authorities say he texted his stepfather that he was adding four Colorado Supreme Court judges who removed Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot to “my list.”
Last July, investigators alleged Brockbank made more threats against Griswold for “exposing” Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk who was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a 2021 breach of her county’s election system.
Griswold, who has been outspoken about election security, asked the state in 2021 for more guards and boosted security to address a rise in threats against officials, often from people who believe baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In a statement Wednesday, Griswold applauded law enforcement’s investigations into threats made against election officials.
“Threats of political violence towards election officials are unacceptable and must stop. I refuse to be intimidated and will continue to make sure every eligible Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated voter can make their voices heard in our elections,” Griswold said. “I appreciate law enforcement’s efforts on these cases.”
An attorney for Brockbank did not immediately return a request for comment.
Brockbank was prosecuted under the Justice Department task force designed to combat threats of violence against election workers and ensure that all election workers, whether elected, appointed or volunteer, are “able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The task force, which was created in 2021, collaborates with election workers, state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers and investigates the cases with the FBI and U.S. attorney offices across the country.