T’Naus Nieto
The Chronicle-News
Chair for the Las Animas County Democrats, Pamela Espinoza, faces allegations of embezzlement, following an official campaign finance complaint that the Colorado Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance Enforcement received on July 30.
Candidate for Colorado’s Senate District 35, and member of the LAC Democrats, Travis Nelson, signed and sent the document and provided evidence, which the LAC Democrats’ official Facebook page claimed were ‘minor’ clerical errors.
On Aug. 4, the Colorado Secretary of State communications director, Jack Todd, told The Chronicle-News, “I can confirm that the Department of State did receive a complaint filed by Travis Nelson, with Pamela Michelle Espinoza listed as the respondent. The Department has until Aug. 13 to perform an initial review of the allegations.”
However, on Aug. 3, the evening before Todd spoke with The Chronicle-News, the LAC Democrats’ official Facebook page claimed that the Co. Secretary of State had already determined there were no reporting violations.
The LAC Dems Facebook post stated, “The Las Animas County Democrats are pleased to announce, based upon a proactive request for assistance from the LAC Dems, there were no reporting violations found by the Secretary of State regarding the LAC Dems’ periodic income and expense reports.”
When asked about the LAC Democrats’ Facebook post, Todd replied, “I cannot speak to the content of that Facebook post. This case, with Pamela Michelle Espinoza listed as respondent, remains open.”
Additionally, the case was listed as “active” for its status on the Colorado Secretary of State’s TRACER site, at the time of writing.
The allegations
The official embezzlement report indicated that Democrat Bill Williamson was threatened by Espinoza, following his expressing concern she had “embezzled donations collected at Santa Fe Trail Days,” back in 2024 to pay for her and her child’s trip to the Democratic National Convention.
The report also indicated that her cousin was caught embezzling, with “no action was taken.”
In the official report, Nelson claimed that no donations for Santa Fe Trail Days were indicated in the SOS filing.
He also reported that former LAC Democrat treasurer, Gene Feith, who had since resigned, provided documentation in support of the embezzlement claim.
“When I compared the July 2024 financial statement to the official TRACER SOS filing, multiple expenditures and contributions were not reflected in the filing and the balance did not match,” Nelson said in the report. “Specifically, I refer you to the line where ‘Income of Santa Fe Trial Days’ reports a contribution of LCDP in the amount of $122. No reporting of these cash donations to our local party is recorded in TRACER as required by law. Further, in said financial report provided by Gene Feith, I refer you to the line ‘Income from May meeting’ which reports $148 in contributions. No such contributions are reported to the SOS in TRACER filings (and) are required by law. This SOC campaign finance report appears to be completely cooked.”
The Las Animas County Democrats’ official Facebook page responded to the claims Nelson made by discrediting his character with implications of abuse and sexism and with a denial of the embezzlement allegations, referring to the differences in accounting as “minor clerical errors.”
The social media account posted on July 26, “The Las Animas County Democrats are aware of false allegations made by Travis Nelson. Travis Nelson is a felon who engaged in violence against women. He is making these false accusations to retaliate against the LAC Dems after he was lawfully removed from their monthly meeting. He is lashing out because female members of the LAC Dems refused to tolerate his bad behavior. All donations to the Las Animas County Democrats, including $122 from the 2024 Santa Fe Trail Days, were fully accounted for and deposited in the LAC Dems bank account. Upon their election at the February 2025 Re-Org, the current LAC Dems officers became aware of previous minor clerical errors. The current officers addressed those issues at that time, with the cooperation of the Colorado Secretary of State and the Colorado Democratic Party. The LAC Dems reiterate that all donation money is properly accounted for, and any accusation otherwise is completely false.”
Nelson, in the allegation filing stated, “On July 29, 2025, I reached out to the Secretary of State’s office to get guidance pulling up the Report of Contributions and Expenditures for June 4, 2024, June 21, 2024, July 30, 202, Oct. 15, 2024, Nov. 1, 2024 and Dec. 10, 2024… What I found was extremely troubling. Not a single contribution or expenditure was reported during this entire time period, yet the ‘Funds on Hand at End of Reporting Period’ fluctuated by as much as $3,479.53 within a single reporting period. No lawful reporting was made to account for common monthly expenditures of the party, nor for any contributions collected at the monthly party meeting or at other community events [where] cash donations were collected. I believe dozens of contributions and expenditures were never reported to the SOS as required by law.”
Nelson also filed an official Democratic Party controversy form back on July 10.
Police presence
The official accusation came just around two weeks after a heavy disagreement between Nelson and Espinoza. Nelson sought to ask for her resignation and contacted local authorities (LAC Democrats claim they “lawfully” removed him from the meeting).
The LAC Democrats held their regular meeting back on July 16 at 6 p.m. at the Coal Mining Memorial and Museum. During that meeting, at 6:03 p.m., just three minutes after the planned start, police were present with authorities speaking with Nelson and Espinoza separately.
Espinoza, while speaking with police, attempted to discredit any claims by Nelson, referring to him as “a convicted felon.”
According to Nelson, Espinoza refused to allow him to speak when attempting to make his request for her resignation and even threatened him, claiming he was creating a disturbance, which Nelson denied. He eventually called police to help resolve the situation, he claimed.
Nelson told The Chronicle-News prior to the meeting that he planned to ask for Espinoza’s resignation, citing violations of the Colorado Democratic Party’s neutrality rules, its code of conduct, state and federal laws and even his personal civil rights.
