U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s eldest son was arrested Tuesday in connection with a string of car break-ins and stolen credit cards that were used to buy food, diesel and other items, according to the Rifle Police Department.
Police arrested Tyler Jay Boebert, 18, at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, the department said in a Facebook post. He appeared virtually in Garfield County Court from jail Wednesday afternoon.
He is facing four felony charges of criminal possession of ID documents of multiple victims, one count of conspiracy to commit a felony and “over 15 additional misdemeanor and petty offenses,” the department stated.
In a statement provided by her campaign for reelection, Lauren Boebert said her son, an adult and father, will “take responsibility for his actions” and “should be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen.”
“I love my son Tyler, who has been through some very difficult, public challenges for a young man and the subject of attention that he didn’t ask for,” Lauren Boebert said in the statement. “It breaks my heart to see my child struggling and in this situation, especially when he has been provided multiple opportunities to get his life on track. I will never give up on him and I will continue to be there for him.”
Online jail records for Tyler Boebert from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office list 22 charges, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Tyler Boebert was identified as a suspect in the case after a Rifle police officer who was investigating a string of vehicle break-ins and thefts recognized him on surveillance video from a Love’s gas station in Parachute, according to an arrest affidavit.
In the surveillance video, Tyler Boebert was wearing a Shooters Bar and Grill hoodie while he and a group of three juveniles used a stolen credit card to buy food from Love’s in the early hours of Feb. 20, including tacos and “rollerbites,” according to the affidavit.
Shooters was owned by Lauren Boebert before she was forced to close the restaurant in 2022 because a new building owner did not renew her lease.
The affidavit details break-ins and thefts from four vehicles in Rifle, including wallets containing credit cards, driver’s licenses and other items such as cash, a gift card and a social security card.
The stolen cards were used to buy diesel and food from a Kum and Go and McDonald’s in Rifle, according to the affidavit. Attempted charges that were denied by banks or credit card companies included a $717 order from Shein.com, $175 at Kum and Go and $10.95 from a Starbucks inside of a City Market.
Before he was arrested, Tyler Boebert told police he was with friends in the area and at the time one of the thefts occurred and said the group was in his Ford F-250, which matched the truck seen on surveillance videos, according to the affidavit.
Tyler Boebert appeared in Garfield County court virtually on Wednesday, wearing a striped jumpsuit at the Garfield County jail and smiling and laughing with other inmates while on camera before the hearing started.
He received a personal recognizance bond set at $1,250 from Magistrate Jill McConaughy.
During the hearing, 9th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Tony Hershey described the allegations as “concerning” and pointed to Tyler Boebert failing to appear in court on a traffic case last year. Hershey said the personal recognizance bond would be sufficient.
“The concern is the activity and behavior going on here,” Hershey said in the hearing.
McConaughy scheduled his next hearing for 8:15 a.m. April 11 and granted the restriction of the affidavit in the case due to minors being identified. A redacted affidavit was posted by the Colorado Judicial Branch on X on Wednesday night.
At least one member of the Boebert family was on the video call, but they did not identify themselves with a first name. Hershey during the hearing did say Lauren Boebert was on the call.
This is the second time this year a member of the Republican representative’s family has been arrested.
Jayson Boebert, Lauren Boebert’s ex-husband, was arrested on assault charges after he shoved his thumb into the mouth of one of their sons during an altercation in January, just days after the pair had a public incident at a western Colorado restaurant, Garfield County sheriff’s deputies said in an affidavit filed in January. She was later granted a restraining order against him.
Lauren Boebert, currently representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, announced in December she will be switching districts to run in the 4th Congressional District after facing a repeat challenge from Democrat Adam Frisch, who she narrowly defeated in 2022.
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