Disclosure: I am the respondent in two of the cases below, including Rep. Boebert’s current Weld County petition, and I filed the House Ethics complaint that preceded it. My attorneys are contesting the order with a Anti-SLAPP Motion which will be reported on tomorrow.
Colorado court records obtained by American Muckrakers show Rep. Lauren Boebert has filed seven petitions for temporary protection orders since 2018, against five different people. Six of the cases are closed. Only one produced a permanent order.
The pattern is consistent. She files, gets a temporary order granted the same day, then lets the case collapse at the permanent order hearing.
The record
July 2018, Garfield County-Rifle (2018C80). Petition against a woman. Temporary order granted same day. The respondent was served July 17. At the November 6 status conference, the docket records a party’s failure to appear. The case was dismissed that day.
2018C80 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. [Respondent]
07/12/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
07/17/2018 Return of Service
11/06/2018 Status Conference: Party Failed to Appear
11/06/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated
11/06/2018 Dismissed without Prejudice
December 2018, Garfield County-Rifle (2018C133). Second petition against the same woman. This is the one case that ended in a permanent order, granted January 2, 2019.
2018C133 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. [Respondent]
12/21/2018 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
01/02/2019 Permanent Protection Order: Granted
February 2020, Garfield County (2020C14). Petition against a man, filed during her first run for Congress. Temporary order granted. At the March 11 hearing, the docket records a party’s failure to appear. The order was vacated and the case closed.
2020C14 | Boebert, Lauren v. [Respondent]
02/19/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
03/11/2020 Temporary Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
03/11/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated
March 2020, Garfield County-Rifle (2020C51). Twenty days after the first case died, she filed again against the same man. A party failed to appear at both permanent order hearings. Dismissed.
2020C51 | Boebert, Lauren v. [Respondent]
03/31/2020 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
04/14/2020 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
04/28/2020 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg: Party Failed to Appear
04/28/2020 Dismissed without Prejudice
June 2022, Garfield County (2022C30220). Petition against me, filed with attorney Suzanne Taheri. I was served June 30. Boebert was a no-show. The judge dismissed the case and vacated the order.
2022C30220 | Boebert, Lauren Opal v. Wheeler, David
06/23/2022 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
06/30/2022 Return of Service
07/20/2022 Dismissed without Prejudice
07/20/2022 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated
In her new Weld County petition, Boebert claims she dropped the 2022 case because I was never served, last week said I “had gone into hiding” and she hoped I would “just go away.” The Return of Service is on the docket.
February 2024, Garfield County-Rifle (2024C15). Petition against her ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, filed as domestic abuse. Temporary order granted. After two continued hearings, the case was dismissed and the order vacated March 11, 2024.
2024C15 | Boebert, Lauren v. Boebert, Jayson
02/02/2024 Complaint: TPO Domestic Abuse
02/02/2024 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
03/11/2024 Case Closed: Dismissed
03/11/2024 Temporary Protection Order: Vacated
September 2026, Weld County (2026C1286). Seven days after I filed a sworn ethics complaint against her with the House Ethics Committee, Boebert went back to court against me. A temporary order was granted the same day, requiring me to stay 100 yards away. Her petition cites the ethics complaint’s allegations among its reasons.
2026C1286 | Boebert, Lauren v. Wheeler, David B
09/24/2026 Complaint: TPO
09/24/2026 Temporary Protection Order: Granted
09/30/2026 Motion to Dismiss
11/16/2026 Permanent Restraining Ord Hrg (scheduled)
Boebert is represented by Scott Gessler and Tanya Light. My attorneys, Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman, have filed a motion to dismiss and an anti-SLAPP motion arguing the petition targets First Amendment protected reporting. Judge Dana Nichols kept the temporary order in place and is allowing briefing by both sides on the SLAPP motion. She could have dismissed it. The next hearing is November 16, two weeks after Election Day.
Why it matters
Protection orders exist for people in real danger. A judge found grounds once. But six of her seven petitions did not end in a permanent order. In at least four, the case died at a hearing where she was absent or a party failed to appear. Two targeted the same journalist. And the latest arrived one week after an ethics complaint and six weeks before an election.
A temporary order is easy to get. It is granted on one side’s word, the same day, with no response from the other side. Boebert seems to know that.
A personal note
I’ve been a journalist since I was 16. In all that time, I’ve never had to write a paragraph like this one.
Being falsely accused of stalking someone is painful. It follows you. It shows up in headlines next to your name, in search results my kids can read, and in the minds of people who will never look at a court docket. Lauren Boebert knows that. A temporary order costs her a filing fee and a sworn statement. It costs me my reputation, my time, and thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend reporting that is protected by the First Amendment.
I have never threatened her. I have never harmed her. What I have done is report on her, file a sworn complaint with the House Ethics Committee, and publish the records. That is not stalking. That is journalism.
I’m going to keep doing it. But I can’t do it alone. Dan Ernst and Alan Feldman are fighting this in Weld County, and the next hearing is November 16.
If you believe a sitting member of Congress shouldn’t be able to use the courts to silence a reporter, please chip in to my legal defense fund. Every dollar goes to the fight.
Donate to the legal defense fund
Thank you. It means more than you know.
David B. Wheeler
I am barred by court order and unable to contact Boebert’s to request for comment. However, if her office would like to respond, I will post it in full here.
Full court records are attached below.
Have information about these cases or other tips? Contact me at david@americanmuckrakers.com.
About the Author
David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.
Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.
Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.
An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.
And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.
Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.
This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.
Hard to believe that an unhinged moron like Boebert could have been elected to Congress. I’m sorry that she’s decided to target you because you don’t deserve it in any way. She must see the writing on the wall…her days of collecting a taxpayer provided salary/health care are going to end sooner rather than later. Hang in there…