Lauren Boebert's Ex-Husband Calls Restraining Order "Cruel and Unfair," Says He Wasn't Served

Last week, Representative Lauren Boebert filed a temporary restraining order against her ex-husband, Jayson, following a series of headline-grabbing incidents that led to Jayson being criminally charged. The order also covers three of their four children — a punishment that Jayson says is "killing" him.

"I feel what is happening is cruel and unfair," he tells Westword. "It is a prison sentence to keep me from my family."

The restraining order stemmed from three incidents reported to authorities in Garfield County, including one on February 2, when Jayson allegedly entered Lauren's home "without permission" and "claimed in a text message to me that he destroyed personal property," the congresswoman says in the order.

For his part, Jayson claims that "no threats were made" and nothing was damaged, "except for the way [Lauren] left my second home, which I am still repairing for Lauren's Granny to stay in this week." He says the focus of the dispute was a trailer that Lauren wanted to use to move to her new home in Windsor, which is in the 4th Congressional District where she is now running for representative.

"I said she couldn't use my enclosed trailer," Jayson says. "I never saw Lauren that day. We had a brief text conversation where she asked me if she could use the trailer or if her stuff was already in there. In my response, I mentioned that the trailer was too much for her boyfriend and I also requested that her Aspen boyfriend and one of her staff not be on the property."


"Jayson assaulted our eighteen-year-old son at his home," Lauren writes in the motion. "He retrieved a firearm and brandished it declaring he was going to kill himself."

The third incident was a fight between Jayson and Lauren at Miner's Claim Restaurant in Silt on January 6. The congresswoman accuses her ex-husband of calling the police on her — "falsely claiming I struck him," she says.

"He told me after the call he wanted me to get bad press," Lauren writes in the motion, adding that Jayson "has made multiple suicidal threats, and threats to harm me over the past fourteen months."

Jayson denies making any threats to Lauren and says he's "unsure" why she would say such things.

"I don't know," he says. "I am stronger today than I have ever been in my entire life. I have been tried and tested through some very difficult times in life. I have never given up on anything. I have lived homeless and without hope in my earlier years. I have been hurt by the person closest to me, belittled and made to feel unimportant. I have been crucified by the media without the opportunity to rectify any accusations. I have been financially destroyed many times and I still carry a smile on my face and keep going because I still believe it gets better."

Jayson tells Westword that it "only makes sense" that Lauren, who currently represents the 3rd Congressional District, filed for the restraining order as "a way for justification of a district swap" to the CD4 race late last year  — and that she's tearing apart their family in the process.

"One of the reasons Lauren and I had argued on the night of January 6 was because of the move to the 4th, and her never seeing the boys," he says, adding that the children "hope the best for their mother and will support her decisions." But the district swap is still hard on them, he says, and putting a restraining order on top of it all is an even bigger strain.

"My boys love her, and this is going to become difficult and sad," Jayson says. "It is frustrating that over the last four years she has not participated as being a mother or a member of our family, and now her move would separate the boys from her more."

Lauren Boebert's press team declined to comment on the restraining order or Jayson's response.

Lauren and Jayson Boebert are both due in Garfield County Court on Thursday, February 8, for a permanent restraining order hearing, but there's a problem: Jayson was never served the temporary restraining order by GCSO deputies.

"We have nothing for a return of service," Garfield County Court of Clerk Dawn Garey says. "We usually get these documents that are a return of service and that serves as proof that he was served. I don't see that."

Jayson confirms that he wasn't aware of the restraining order until an Associated Press reporter reached him on February 5 and asked for a statement. "I saw on my cameras that the Garfield County deputies were trespassing on the property with signs and a locked gate, holding papers. I do not know the reason why," Jayson says. "I have not been served with any legal documents."

Until a restraining order is served, "it's just a piece of paper" and can't be enforced, Garey says. As a result, Jayson technically doesn't have to attend tomorrow's permanent restraining order hearing unless he is served.

According to Garey, if Jayson is served and the order is granted, he could be legally barred from having contact with Lauren and the three children named in the order. He could also be required to stay at least 100 yards away from them at all times. But the parties could also ask for more time, in which case the temporary order would remain in force.

 "The thought of losing the boys will change a lot of future decisions," Jayson says. He and Lauren finalized their divorce last October after eighteen years of marriage, but custody arrangements were never made public.

"She knows how much this will hurt me," Jayson says. "I am terrified. I want to see my boys continue growing up. Missing football games, baseball game, and basketball games. This is so ugly, the direction this family has headed. I don't think she realizes the gravity of what she has done."

Jayson is currently facing charges of assault, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructing a peace officer in relation to the two January incidents. The Garfield County Sheriff's Office was notified about the February 2 altercation, but an arrest was not made.
"My house has never been so quiet," Jayson says of his life right now. "She has kept the boys away from me, and it's killing me inside. I have been their everything for the last four years — and in a second, they are gone. I just wonder, when will it stop?"

Who will watch the boys if Lauren Boebert wins the CD4 race and is either in Windsor — three hours away from Silt — or back in Washington, D.C., throughout much of the year? "Nobody knows," Jayson responds. "You will have to ask Lauren about who will watch them. Like I said earlier about January 6 night, I didn't like the idea of her moving so far away from the boys."

During the January 25 CD4 Republican primary debate, Lauren claimed she moved to the Eastern Plains district because she and her children "needed a fresh start. ...That's been very public, of what home life looked like. And I'm sorry to bring that up — I've tried to put it into a very pretty package and bring my ex-husband lots of honor. But since there is nothing private about my personal life, it is out there. And my boys need some freedom from what's been going on. And this move is the right move for me and for them."

According to Jayson, Lauren had "already planned that she was going to move" before the latest incidents, and points out what people — including her GOP rivals — have been saying about the incumbent being too scared to run again in CD3, "Such a good way to deflect what people are saying about why she left," Jayson blasts.

But he avoids mentioning the 911 call their eldest son, Tyler, made in December 2022, months before the divorce filing — and nearly a year before Lauren announced her district switch.

"I should have just let her use the trailer," Jayson admits.
Lauren and Jayson aren't the only Boeberts with court dates. Son Tyler was due in court on February 6 for a child support case involving the teenage mother of his child. But since "the parties" couldn't make it, it was pushed back to April, according to the court clerk's office. Tyler was eighteen when the baby was born last spring; the mother was a minor when the child support case was filed.

"Tyler and [the mother] have been working things out," Jayson says. "I am really grateful for this. I am unsure what Lauren is participating in. If our son asked for help, I am sure we would both do whatever we could."

Jayson compares his relationship with Lauren to the plot of Hancock, a popular Will Smith movie that centers on two aliens who are connected by their volatile past.

"There is a local joke going around town that Lauren and I are like the movie Hancock: two people destined to be with each other," Jayson says. "In the movie, they become separated and anytime they get close to each other, a nasty storm forms and the jiffy pop starts popping. I think it fits well. I would imagine the world sees two people that are better off away from each other."

Will life be better without Lauren?

"I feel that during a time like this, we have a choice," he says. "We can either become better than we once were or allow a moment like this to be our destruction. I have learned a lot from this time alone and have chosen to see it as an opportunity to grow. I agree that I see more opportunities for self-reflection than I would as a couple. Now the only thing that can stop me from my dreams is myself."