"The angel of death is coming": Littleton man sentenced for threats made to state office

A 52-year-old Littleton resident who called the Colorado Secretary of State's Office to direct threats at Jena Griswold, Colorado's top elections official, was released Monday after serving 286 days in jail following his arrest.

Kirk Wertz walked out of Denver District Court after Judge Darryl Shockley sentenced him to two years of supervised probation. 

A jury convicted Wertz just four days earlier of retaliation against a public official, a low-level felony.

According to the arrest affidavit in the case, Wertz called the office two days after the state's June 2022 primary and, according to the office worker who answered, stated, "Hey, I've got a message for the Secretary and want you to pass it along: The angel of death is coming for her in the name of Jesus Christ."

The caller didn't leave a name and the call was not recorded, but the office worker wrote down the phone number of the call which appeared on caller ID. 

When a state investigator later dialed that number, a man - allegedly Wertz - replied testily to the inquiry, as noted the affidavit: 

Investigator: "Good, um, just wanted to follow up regarding the phone call over to the Secretary's Office today."

Caller: "Yeah, what about it? Haven't you heard of the First Amendment, er.. or are you a boy scout?"

Investigator: "No, absolutely..." (subject interrupts) 

Caller: "Even boy scouts have heard of that."

Investigator: "Oh, yeah, absolutely." (subject interrupts) 

Caller: "You're not intimidating. You're harassing is what you're doing. So, what's the problem?"

Caller (interrupting the investigator): "She's going to burn in hell! What's the problem other than that?!"

Caller (continues to interrupt): "What's your major malfunction?"

Investigator: "Do you have intentions of physically harming the Secretary of State?"

Caller: "I don't have to answer any of your stupid questions."

Investigator: "OK. so, I'm just curious as to what the purpose of calling the SOS office was."

Caller (yelling, partially muffled): "I'm a citizen of Colorado, well, Colorado but the United States of America. And I'm an Oath Taker and an Oath Keeper. And I owe you no explanation. Since you're stupid and don't know anything about this stuff and are calling and harassing me, go stick it in your a**."

The caller then hung up, according to the affidavit. 

Investigators tracked the cell phone's signal and arrested Wertz in Denver a week later. He admitted to officers he had made the threatening call.

"We cannot allow our public servants and their loved ones to live in fear because of people like Kirk Wertz and still claim that we live in a civil and democratic society," Denver District Attorney Beth McCann stated in a press release. "There are legitimate ways to protest the actions of elected officials, but threats of violence are not among them. I want to thank the work of members of my office for pursuing this matter successfully and members of the jury for their time and attention."  

Secretary of State Griswold also commented in the DA's press release: "Any person who engages in threatening behavior towards elected officials must be held accountable. I extend my gratitude to District Attorney Kirk and law enforcement for their efforts in this case. It is imperative that we reject the normalization of violent threats directed towards secretaries of state, election officials, and election workers in Colorado and throughout the United States. We must continue to affirm that violence has no place in democracy. As secretary of state, I will not be deterred by attempts at intimidation and remain steadfast in my promise to ensure that every Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated can make their voice heard in secure and accessible elections."