Speaking to judge, Lauren Boebert urges mercy in son’s child abuse case

Authorities last year charged Tyler Boebert with child abuse and criminal negligence after his toddler son was found wandering outside.GREELEY, Colo. (CN) — A Colorado judge on Friday sentenced the son of U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert to 20 days in jail with work release after he pleaded guilty to charges of child abuse and neglect stemming from an incident last year.Addressing the judge on behalf of her 21-year-old son Tyler, Boebert asked for leniency.“Mercy is not softness," she said. “Mercy is the difference between correcting a father and orphaning a son during his most important hours.”Boebert currently represents Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District. She previously resided in Rifle, where she represented the Third Congressional District.Prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges against Tyler Boebert in July 2025 after his young son was found wandering around outside his mother’s home in Windsor, Colorado.It was one of three incidents in 2025 in which Tyler Boebert’s toddler was found wandering outside, Deputy District Attorney Brice Rudolph told the court. One time, he wandered alongside a busy road. Another time, he ended up near the Lake Pelican dock.“Once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern,” Rudolph said.In support of her son, Lauren Boebert recalled the shortcomings that led to her grandson leaving the house unattended, including a miscommunication with a babysitting uncle and a broken door lock.“I want to talk to you about what kind of father my son is. He works and comes home. That is not a talking point. He is not a troubled man drifting through life,” she said. “The actions before you are not acts of cruelty. It’s a failure of communication.”Tyler Boebert declined to address the court, but his defense attorney Joseph Gavaldon described the toddler as a “Houdini” in the “Lewis and Clark” phase of his life. Gavaldon also said Tyler Boebert installed locks and cameras around his house in Garfield County to ensure his son is never left unsupervised.Judge Michele Meyer said she found the repeated nature of the incidents concerning.Also concerning, she said, was the fact that Tyler Boebert was serving a deferred sentence at the time. Nevertheless, she opted not to impose the maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.“It appears as though Mr. Boebert has taken this seriously, but I can’t ignore the fact that these are two incidents that put his son in serious harm’s way," said Meyer, a judge for Colorado’s 22nd Judicial District. “Thankfully, nothing happened.”It was not Tyler Boebert’s first time in court.In 2024, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of attempted identity theft for his involvement a spree of vehicle break-ins around the small Colorado city of Rifle. The judge granted Boebert a deferred sentence. He’s scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 10 for final sentencing in that case.Then, in August, prosecutors also charged Boebert with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two county of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after he was accused of posting sexually explicit pictures of a then-17-year-old in 2024.An anonymous tip, from March 2024, prompted investigators to look into the claims. They say they found sexually explicit videos and images in which then-18-year-old Boebert was engaged in sexual relations with a 17-year-old. If found guilty in that case, Boebert faces between four and 12 years in prison for each charge.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads