Electioneer and Florida resident Diana Watt, who was arrested by the Lee County Sheriff's Department and extradited to Colorado over the submission of petitions containing deceased voters, said she was incarcerated in Florida for nearly 20 days without bail and abused by the Lee County Sheriff's officers.
While in Colorado petitioning with Grassfire, a network of conservative petition circulators, for candidates to appear on the state's ballot, an employee of Watt informed her that they needed to leave early due to an emergency. After the employee left, Watt noticed their petitions, which must be individually notarized prior to submission according to Colorado state law, had not yet been notarized.
In order for the employee to be paid for their work, Watt said her supervisor required the petitions to be notarized. Watt then notarized the petitions at a local UPS.
The following day, Watt expressed frustration with her other superiors Sean Bartley, a former co-owner of Grassfire, and Dustin Olson, over the employee's pay being withheld for unfinished petition notarization.
"It's wrong to make me put myself in legal jeopardy in order for you guys to do your job and pay your employee," Watt said, to which Bartley and Olson agreed.
The employee's petitions were later removed and placed in a "dead file" for four to five weeks, according to Watt, though upon flying to Colorado to submit petitions to the secretary of state, Bartley included the employee's petitions from the "dead file" which were notarized by Watt.
On the morning of Nov. 1, 2023, Watt was arrested by Lee County sheriffs after a warrant was issued by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office for the submission of fraudulent petitions.
Although Watt did not personally obtain nor submit the fraudulent signatures, the Colorado attorney general charged her with two counts of a class 4 felony for attempting to influence a public servant and class 2 misdemeanor for perjury, per her warrant. Five others were also charged in the crime.
“I admit to what I did,” Watt told SCNR News of her decision to notarize her employee’s petition, per her boss' approval. “They told the media that I fraudulently put dead people’s names on forms, and they knew that wasn’t the truth."
Watt was held for nearly ten hours before being booked by Lee County jail on Nov. 2, 2023, and remained incarcerated on a no bond hold until Nov. 20, when she was extradited to Colorado and released the following day.
In a Jan. 30 video shared to TikTok, Watt discussed her arrest and noted the Colorado judge who heard her case appeared confused at her extradition for "low-level charges."
"He set me free on my own recognizance, no bail necessary, free to fly back to Florida," Watt said. "I didn't have a wallet, no ID, and no credit card. No cell phone, no coat."
"It was Thanksgiving in Colorado. I was wearing a pair of flip flops, and I had to arrange my own way home," she added.
Watt claimed she was never read her Miranda rights during her arrest and was denied the ability to speak to her attorney throughout her time incarcerated. Watt also claimed she was abused by the Lee County Sheriff's department and its officers.
Two months of negotiation between Watt and Colorado's First Assistant Attorney General Robert Shapiro ensued.
"But the man tried to charge me with a crime he knew I did not commit," Watt said. "I assisted the police with the investigation. I did everything, and then in the end, he wanted me more than he wanted anybody else."
Watt said, in her opinion, she believes she was targeted because of her presence in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, and prior electioneer work in the 2016 presidential election in support of then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In late January, Watt pleaded guilty to a third count for Tampering with Nomination Papers and Petitions.
Per Watt's guilty plea, she was required to submit two letters of apology to the Colorado Secretary of State (SOS) and to former candidate Carl Andersen, who she was electioneering for at the time, acknowledging her "individual wrongdoing regarding her role with the deceptive submission of false names and signatures via circulated documents that were notarized" and filed with the SOS. Watt is also sentenced to probation and ordered to repay the Denver Sheriff's Office $3,786.91.
"I plead guilty to that simply and only to extricate myself from the horrible hands of the attorney general of Colorado," Watt said. "I don't believe my team cheated. ... I think the secretary of state lied her a-- off."
"We were trying to put a Trumper on the ballot," she added, noting several other candidates had successfully been added to the Colorado state ballot after her electioneering efforts.
Watt went on to claim she had been told that any of her arresting cops could shoot her and "get away with it" because she would always be seen as the "bad guy."
The electioneer claimed general Google search results for her name showed a broad spectrum of information about her, including her real estate business, along with her November arrest.
On Monday, SCNR News spoke with Watt, who asserted her innocence in the matter.
"I did not do it. He did it," Watt said in reference to Bartley returning fraudulent petitions. "That's what they're using to get me on: that one petition that he submitted to the state. That's what they're using to say that I did something wrong."
Watt said employees hired by Grassfire "lied and cheated" on petitions, adding, "They’re good at that because every last one of them got screwed."
“I got screwed. I lost my job," she added.
“There were several people who cheated. It wasn’t Grassfire per se. It was the people we hired," Watt continued. "They straight up committed straight fraud … and we all suffered."
Watt said she would "love to see those people pay a price."
“I brought my best people to Colorado. People I trusted. People I truly, truly trusted,” said Watt. “And they proceeded to cheat like you wouldn’t believe and blindsided all of us.”
Watt called Grassfire one of the most “moral companies” she’s ever encountered and noted that its three founders hated cheating.
"The one thing we wanted to do was stop some of the corruption in politics and ended up just taking [one] on the chin — hard," said Watts. "It was a very big deal to do things the right way. ... It just blew up in our faces."
While incarcerated in Lee County jail, Watt said her Colorado attorney attempted to have her released on bail under the assurance that he would fly her out to Colorado to appear in court. However, Shapiro's office reportedly denied the request and insisted she remain on a no bond hold.
"Why Florida came and got me I do not understand," she said. "I still don't understand that and why they would allow someone to be extradited on such tiny charges."
SCNR News reached out to the Colorado attorney general's office for comment, though did not immediately receive a response. SCNR News also reached out to Lee County jail regarding their policy on extraditing citizens to another state's authorities, though also did not immediately receive a response.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article did not include the following information:
Although Watt did not personally obtain nor submit the fraudulent signatures, the Colorado attorney general charged her with two counts of a class 4 felony for attempting to influence a public servant and class 2 misdemeanor for perjury, per her warrant. Five others were also charged in the crime.
“I admit to what I did,” Watt told SCNR News of her decision to notarize her employee’s petition, per her boss' approval. “They told the media that I fraudulently put dead people’s names on forms, and they knew that wasn’t the truth."
