Weld County Sheriff's Office deputies are asking the public for help finding Coltin Ostermiller, a former Colorado high school state wrestling champion now wanted on an active arrest warrant. His name and photo went out Wednesday as part of the agency's weekly Warrant Wednesday campaign, the latest in a string of fugitive appeals aimed at chipping away at the county's sprawling backlog of unserved warrants.
The alert, posted as a video titled “WCSO Warrant Wednesday!,” came from the Weld County Sheriff's Office on Facebook. The office is asking anyone with information on Ostermiller's whereabouts to call (970) 304-6464 or email tips to [email protected]. As with every Warrant Wednesday post, the sheriff's office emphasized that the charges against Ostermiller are merely accusations and that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Colorado law sets a high bar before any such warrant can even be issued. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 16-3-108, a judicial officer can only issue an arrest warrant after an affidavit establishes probable cause that a crime occurred and that the accused person committed it. The specific charges underlying Ostermiller's warrant, along with whether he faces any additional warrants in neighboring counties, remain open questions not yet detailed by the sheriff's office.
A Wrestling Champion's Path Before the Warrant
Before he became the subject of a fugitive appeal, Ostermiller was a standout on the mat. He won the 2010 Colorado Class 4A 215-pound high school state wrestling championship while competing for Ridge View Academy, defeating Montrose High School's Braxten Franz in the state finals in Denver, according to the Associated Press. He then went on to wrestle at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, competing in the 197-pound weight class while majoring in criminal justice, per Colorado Mesa University Athletics.
The appeal for Ostermiller did not stay confined to English-language audiences. Regional outlet Denver Noticias amplified the sheriff's office appeal on Tuesday, broadcasting the warrant alert to Spanish-speaking residents across Northern Colorado and the Denver metro area, an outlet that routinely shares the agency's public safety notices.
Why Weld County Leans on Crowdsourced Tips
Warrant Wednesday exists because of sheer volume. Weld County law enforcement agencies face a persistent backlog of more than 10,000 active criminal arrest warrants at any given time, a figure highlighted during local candidate campaign coverage for Weld County sheriff by the Rocky Mountain Voice. The weekly social media push was launched during the tenure of Captain Matt Turner, who served as the agency's public information officer starting in 2012 before announcing his own 2026 campaign for sheriff.
Geography compounds the challenge. Weld County spans roughly 4,016 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural terrain, making it Colorado's third-largest county by land area, according to Weld County Government. That vastness is a big reason the sheriff's office leans so heavily on public tips rather than relying solely on deputy patrols to track down wanted individuals.
Tips generated by posts like the one seeking Ostermiller feed directly into the sheriff's specialized Strike Team, which tracks fugitives and executes high-priority arrest warrants. The unit frequently captures suspects previously featured on Warrant Wednesday posts. That track record played out earlier this month when suspect Ray Schrecongost was taken into custody days after being spotlighted by the sheriff's office on August 19, a case Hoodline covered in its report on the Evans man's multi-county warrant trail.
Ostermiller's case joins a running list of Warrant Wednesday subjects in recent weeks, following posts seeking Joselin Rodriguez-Escobar and Dillon Fisher, and a corrected charge notice involving David Galvan. Fugitives named in these weekly notices often carry additional warrants across neighboring jurisdictions such as Larimer County and the Denver metro area, illustrating how suspects frequently cross county lines to stay ahead of local deputies. For now, the sheriff's office says anyone with information on Ostermiller should call the tip line or send an email, and it continues to stress that the allegations against him have not been proven in court.
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