MESA COUNTY, Colo. — Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters avoided jail time Monday morning.
Peters was convicted by a jury in March on a charge of obstruction of government operations.
Peters will have to serve four months of house arrest while wearing an ankle monitor and perform 120 hours of community service within one year, 9NEWS' partner station KKCO reported. She was also ordered to pay a $750 fine.
Peters faced two charges stemming from her improperly recording a court hearing on her iPad for her deputy clerk in 2022.
According to an arrest affidavit, Grand Junction Police approached Peters at a bagel shop on Feb. 8, 2022 to execute a warrant for her iPad. People sitting at a table with Peters started passing around the tablet. Police then detained Peters as she tried to stop an officer from taking the iPad, the affidavit says.
Video taken by a bagel shop customer showed Peters yell at and struggle with the officers that detained her.
"The suspect attempted to kick back with her right leg to strike Officer Tafoya," the affidavit reads. "She missed Officer Tafoya's body, but did contact Officer Tafoya's Taser and magazine pouch where they were located on Officer Tafoya's belt. I told the suspect, 'Do not kick! Do you understand?!' Sgt. Church also asked the suspect to 'please relax,' which she yelled, 'No!'"
A district attorney investigator eventually did seize the iPad, though Peters claimed it didn't belong to her, according to the affidavit.
Peters was acquitted on the second charge of obstructing a police officer.
She still faces felony criminal charges related to her alleged involvement in a data security breach involving the county's election equipment after the 2020 general election. That case is scheduled for trial in October.
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