WASHINGTON – A Colorado man has been arrested by the FBI and charged with making threats against election officials, a judge and federal law enforcement.
Tick Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, Colorado, was arrested Friday and charged with interstate transmission of threats and will make his first court appearance Monday.
Edited statement FBI special agents investigated threats made on two right-wing social media sites – Rumble and Gab – and found that Brockbank went by the username “Teakty4u” and made threats against numerous officers. Brockbank, federal prosecutors wrote, “also has a long history of illegally possessing firearms,” and the FBI statement cited slogans associated with the fringe QAnon movement. The names of Brockbank’s targets have been sealed at the government’s request.
“Thick Brockbank allegedly threatened the lives of multiple public servants on social media. Among other threats, he claimed that it was ‘time’ to put two state election officials to death and that he had to ‘shoot the bullet.'” Colorado’s chief judge said. Justice Department Criminal Division Director Nicole M. Argentieri said in a statement: “Civil servants should do their jobs without fear. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals who target public officials with threats of violence.”
Brockbank wrote that he believed people in Colorado and Arizona should be executed, authorities said. “The people should take matters into their own hands,” he allegedly said at a July 2022 Rumble taping.
He wrote on Gab in July 2022: “We have to take care of these people ourselves. Our law enforcement is incompetent our judges are incompetent George Soros is running our country for puppets funded.” let the people take it into their own hands to eliminate those we know to be guilty.
After identifying Brockbank through subpoenas, authorities determined he had access to guns, even though he was prohibited from possessing them because of a prior conviction for attempted theft by receiving stolen property, according to FBI testimony. According to the FBI, he was barred from buying a rifle in August 2023, and his appeal was denied in September 2023.
The FBI recently said that Brockbank had a continuing interest in “violence against government officials, as well as ongoing and recent illegal possession of firearms.” They referred to a message he sent to his stepfather in December 2023.
“Four Colorado judges have removed President Trump from the Colorado ballot. their names have been added to my list… their names have been moved to the front of my list,” Tick Brockbank wrote in a message cited by prosecutors. Finally, the Supreme Court ruled those states failed to remove Trump’s name from the ballot.
Court records did not show Brockbank had an attorney.