{"id":39740,"date":"2022-06-27T16:27:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T22:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-the-colorado-man-whose-identity-was-allegedly-stolen-by-mesa-county-clerk-tina-peters\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:51:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:51:32","slug":"meet-the-colorado-man-whose-identity-was-allegedly-stolen-by-mesa-county-clerk-tina-peters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-the-colorado-man-whose-identity-was-allegedly-stolen-by-mesa-county-clerk-tina-peters\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Colorado man whose identity was allegedly stolen by Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gerald
Gerald Wood, right, and his wife, Wendi. (Handout photo, via The The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gerald Wood thought it was odd when after meeting with Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters he was told to hand over the county ID badge he had just been issued to be a contractor for her office.<\/p>\n

It was May 2021 and Wood, a private sector software engineer who goes by \u201cJerry,\u201d had recently been asked by Peters to go through a background check so that he could do occasional information technology work. Peters, who Wood had met through a group in Mesa County investigating the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, said she needed help with some tasks that the county\u2019s normal IT staff members couldn\u2019t handle.<\/p>\n

Given his professional background, which includes work in data security, Wood thought it was \u201cweird\u201d that Peters\u2019 office wanted to keep the ID. That wasn\u2019t a best practice, he thought, planning to make sure Peters knew that if he was ever asked to do a security analysis for her.<\/p>\n

Wood, 56, never got another chance to use that badge. Nor did he ever do any work for the Mesa County Clerk\u2019s Office. \u201cI\u2019ve never even seen the election equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until authorities searched Wood\u2019s Mesa County home in August 2021 that he started to find out what happened to his access badge and how he was at the center of a controversy soon to be the focus of national headlines. Investigators say Peters let another man assume Wood\u2019s identity to attend a sensitive election system software update completed by Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems and the Colorado Secretary of State\u2019s Office, which called the incident a security breach.<\/p>\n

Peters and her deputy, Belinda Knisley, were indicted in the breach, including for allegedly stealing Wood\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

\u2018I would like for the attacks to stop\u2019<\/div>\n

Wood, who has been caught up in the intense spotlight shining on Peters, has mostly stayed silent since news of the breach broke last summer. But he is now speaking publicly about the case after Peters, who was running to be Colorado\u2019s next secretary of state, alleged that he perjured himself in his testimony before the grand jury that indicted her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like for the attacks to stop,\u201d he told The Colorado Sun in an extended interview June 23. \u201cI did not perjure myself. I am considered a victim in this. I wasn\u2019t there and I wasn\u2019t part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood and his wife, Wendi, say they have been through a lot because of Peters. Their house has been searched by local law enforcement and the FBI. Gerald Wood was compelled to testify before a grand jury. Their names have appeared in news media stories and some people in their social circle have turned against the couple, calling Gerald \u201cJudas Jerry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a strong relationship with God, so we have worked through a lot of those (anger) emotions already,\u201d said Wendi Wood, who is a pastor. \u201cBut there are days we struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

She thinks Peters, whose Navy SEAL son died in 2017 when his parachute failed to open at a public demonstration, \u201cis a wounded person\u201d who is acting out and scared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think her heart was probably in the right place originally,\u201d Wendi Wood said. \u201cBut I think that her execution was so poor. She could have done all of this lawfully and she did not choose that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters, who believes the unfounded claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump and has made that claim central to her secretary of state bid, is charged with criminal impersonation, a felony, and identity theft for allegedly using Wood\u2019s county ID to get an unauthorized person into the election system software update.<\/p>\n

\"Tina
Tina Peters during the GOP assembly at the Broadmoor World Arena on April 9 in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Photos of passwords used during the update were posted online, as was a copy of the county\u2019s election system. Authorities have not said who the man is who allegedly used Wood\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

Peters, meanwhile, denies that she stole anyone\u2019s identity. \u201cIf someone is saying that to the grand jury, they\u2019re going to be guilty of perjury,\u201d she told the Sun in an interview with The Unaffiliated politics newsletter earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Peters has maintained her innocence \u2013 \u201ceverything I\u2019ve ever done has been truthful\u201d \u2013 and claims, without evidence, that the charges against her are part of a major conspiracy tied to the highest levels of the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe they will ever, ever allow this to go to trial,\u201d Peters said, \u201cbecause they know I know where the bodies are buried.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she would never plead guilty in the case and that \u201cthere will never be a conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving Peters the benefits of the doubt<\/div>\n

Wood was in South Dakota in August 2021 for the cyber symposium hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the nation\u2019s loudest election conspiracy theorists, when he learned that authorities were investigating him. He found out about the probe when investigators arrived at his home to search it and seized electronic devices.<\/p>\n

Wood had not spoken to Peters or Knisley after turning in his access badge and when investigators searched his home. He simply thought they had decided not to hire him or that they didn\u2019t need help. Then, suddenly, he received a middle-of-the-night phone call from his wife alerting him to the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were so many things being said,\u201d Gerald Wood said. \u201cMy name (was) all over the news and things that were completely wild and untrue. I was still trying to figure out what was true and what was not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendi Wood said she and her husband, who are both Republicans, \u201calways wanted to give (Peters) the benefit of the doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

But slowly the Woods came to realize that the situation couldn\u2019t be explained away. Everything really \u201ccemented\u201d for Gerald Wood when he was called before the grand jury to testify.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized that, \u2018OK, they must have solid evidence at this point,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wood says he never did any work for the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder\u2019s Office and he never touched, let alone saw, Mesa County\u2019s election equipment. He says he provided alibis \u2013 a church gathering and a family graduation party \u2013 for the dates during which alleged illegal activity occurred at the office.<\/p>\n

Authorities have indicated that Wood is no longer under investigation.<\/p>\n

The Woods say they still have concerns about the 2020 presidential election and the U.S. election system in general.<\/p>\n

(Trump\u2019s own allies, including former Attorney General Bill Barr and his daughter, Ivanka, have rejected claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Additionally, courts have tossed out malfeasance claims by Trump and his supporters.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that we\u2019re making, you know, any absolute claims that (the 2020 presidential election) was stolen,\u201d Gerald Wood said. \u201cBut I\u2019m very concerned that our elections are not run very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Republican primary for secretary of state in Colorado, Gerald and Wendi don\u2019t plan to vote for Peters. They are backing Mike O\u2019Donnell, a nonprofit executive from the Eastern Plains who has no election administration experience. O\u2019Donnell says Democrat Joe Biden won in 2020, but has vowed to try to make changes to Colorado\u2019s election system, including by taking a look at the state\u2019s voter rolls.<\/p>\n

Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk, is also running for the Republican nomination for secretary of state.<\/p>\n

The primary election is June 28.<\/p>\n

The The Colorado Sun shirttail is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to c<\/em><\/a>oloradosun.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

speaks publicly for the first time about his connection to the embattled election official<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,168,266,28,993,74,1621],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-crime","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-investigation","tag-theft","tag-voting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84430,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39740\/revisions\/84430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39740"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}