A Towaoc woman suspected of making repeated bomb and death threats to Cortez Walmart employees within the past year was again arrested Monday.
Most recently, Raelena Kuebler is suspected to have made menacing phone calls to store employees in several February incidents.
In a Feb. 26 call to Walmart, Kuebler allegedly said a human body was behind the store at 1835 East Main St.
Also on that day, Kuebler screamed, “I’m gonna kill you” in one call and made gunshot noises described as “pew, pew, pew” in another. Kubeler stated “kill, kill, kill” in yet another call, an employee told police.
On that day alone, Kuebler reportedly made at least five calls to the store.
The alleged threats – and refusals to explain them to police – were nothing new for Kuebler. In October, she allegedly threatened to stab employees after being trespassed from the store, and in November, she said she was outside the store with a bomb in her car.
The employee who received the Feb. 26 calls was concerned about how they were affecting the business, a Cortez Police Department report said.
Longtime Walmart employees are familiar with Kuebler and would likely know Kuebler makes the threats from “Towaoc, CO, and nowhere near the store,” the report said.
But newer employees may “perceive the threats as imminent and cause emergency action,” the report continued.
Caller ID consistently showed Kuebler’s name, police reports said.
Kuebler refused to cooperate with police when contacted by phone Feb. 26. Instead, she used expletives and asked why the investigating officer was “bothering her.”
At that point – and ahead of her March 1 arrest – Kuebler was out on bond for five related felony cases, and she had been charged in two misdemeanor cases.
“Historically, she has proven that she will follow through with threats of returning to the store, and therefore her threats are credible and should be taken seriously,” the police report concluded.
An employee told The Journal Thursday that Kuebler was not a former employee of the store, but was unable to provide further details.
Kuebler followed through on some of her threats about returning to the store, the police report said. According to police:
On Sept. 28, she was cited for trespassing days after being restricted from the store.
On Oct. 8, she called Walmart and requested that management lift her trespass order. When employees refused her request, Kuebler said she would go to the store and stab them.
On Nov. 3, Kuebler repeatedly told a customer service representative that she had a bomb in her car in the parking lot.
On Nov. 7, she was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting at the store.
On Nov. 9, Kuebler was arrested for driving around the store parking lot.
On Nov. 10, she received orders prohibiting her from contacting Walmart and traveling within 100 yards of the address.
On Nov. 14, Kuebler was accused of shoplifting. Police said she almost collided with a Cortez Police vehicle while leaving the Walmart parking lot.
On Feb. 17, she called the store about five times. She said she was going to kill employees and used foul language, according to another police report.
The next day, Feb. 18, Kuebler allegedly called Walmart and said she was going to kill all the employees. The employee who answered the call told police Kuebler sounded intoxicated. Kuebler returned a call from police but refused to go to the police department to discuss the threats and hung up the phone.
Kuebler has restraining orders that prevent her from calling, assaulting, threatening, abusing, harassing, following, interfering, stalking or being within 100 yards of Walmart.
She is scheduled to appear in court April 5 for a plea hearing, arraignment and sentencing hearing and on April 7 for a status conference.
