A Colorado woman and a Wisconsin man pleaded not guilty Friday, July 24, 2026, to federal charges tied to a 2022 fireworks attack on a Cobb County construction office.

Katie Marie Kloth and Tyler John Norman entered their pleas in federal court in Atlanta, responding to a June 2026 indictment alleging crimes committed on May 12, 2022. Federal prosecutors say the pair were part of a group that fired fireworks and vandalized the Cobb County offices of Brasfield & Gorrie, one of the lead contractors on the $109 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

Employees were still inside the building during the alleged attack, which also included spray-painting fencing, windows and walls, according to court records.

U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg told WSB-TV investigative reporter Mark Winne that the defendants traveled from out of state to target the company.

"This was not protest. This was not free speech. This was a crime," Hertzberg said.

Hertzberg said the attack was meant to intimidate Brasfield & Gorrie into halting work on the training center, but the effort failed. The facility, which opponents called "Cop City," opened in April 2025.

Attorney General Todd Blanche personally signed off on one count in the indictment because the federal statute used requires high-level Department of Justice approval, Hertzberg said. He did not name the specific law.

The federal case runs parallel to state charges. In April 2026, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr filed criminal damage and arson charges against Kloth, Norman and a third defendant, Hannah Margaret Kass, in Cobb County. Those state charges carry up to five years in prison and were filed just weeks before the statute of limitations expired.

All three had previously been among 61 defendants charged in a 2023 state RICO racketeering case brought by Carr in Fulton County. A Fulton County judge dismissed that indictment in December 2025, ruling Carr lacked authority to bring the case without permission from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Attorneys for Kloth and Norman did not respond to WSB-TV's requests for comment by phone and email. No trial date for the federal case has been announced.