Deputy Secretary Belinda Knisley, of the Mesa County office of secretaries and registrars, has been put on paid administrative leave due to a “confidential staffing issue,” CNN previously reported. A Mesa County government source told CNN that the “confidential staffing issue” refers to an open investigation into the county’s human resources in which Knisley is accused of pressuring her secretary employees (her subordinates) not to cooperate. with the criminal investigation of the offense. .
When Knisley learned of the human resources investigation, the source said Knisley also pressured employees not to cooperate with her.
Knisley was arrested Wednesday on charges of felony theft and cybercrime. As part of her bail conditions, Knisley agreed not to have any contact with any dependency employees.
Authorities filed a motion to overturn an order for Knisley that had been pending last week, after she agreed to surrender Wednesday. In this motion, District Attorney Dan Rubinstein wrote that despite being placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into his alleged creation of a hostile work environment for secretary employees , had been in contact with employees, “in a way that intimidates them, despite the pending investigation and their departure.” But prosecutors said he had since assured his lawyer he would have no contact with employees.
Knisley’s attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Rubinstein told CNN in a statement that he was “unable to comment further” because of the charges filed Wednesday against Knisley. Mesa County commissioners told CNN in a statement that “they cannot comment on this confidential personal matter.”
The FBI and the Colorado Attorney General declined to comment.
The criminal investigation into the secretary’s office began after Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, accused Mesa County Secretary and Registrar Tina Peters and the office itself of facilitating a security breach. in May. The breach caused confidential logins to be posted to voting machines and forensic images of their hard drives in early QAnon-affiliated Telegram channel in early August.
The district attorney began the investigation last month, and since then he has been joined by the Colorado attorney general and the FBI.
Judicial documents filed by the district attorney allege that he went to the office of the county secretary of Mesa on August 25, even though he was told he was not on the premises due to an investigation. active in human resources in which “she participated in inappropriate and unprofessional behaviors in the workplace”. While in office on Aug. 25, court documents allege he used Peters’ logins to access the county’s computer system and try to print documents.
Knisley had already been in hot water with the Colorado Secretary of State over the security breach; Griswold revoked Knisley’s election oversight duties because of this, alleging that Knisley helped ease the breach by distorting the role and employment status of an employee in a software update. the May election equipment.