Aurora Pastor Found Guilty of Child Sex Assault

Denver Channel
July 27, 2011

[Note: The accused appealed the conviction. The prosecutor was not able to proceed with the case and filed a motion requesting the court to issue an Order of Nolle Prosequi. The court granted the motion in 2020. We have redacted the name of the accused and identifying information.]

AURORA, Colo. -- An Aurora minister accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in his congregation in 2008 and 2009 has been found guilty.

[Redacted], [age redacted], was convicted late Monday of sexual assault on a child using force, sexual assault on a child, pattern of abuse and three counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, all felonies.

The victim, who was born in Sierra Leone, was a member of [Redacted]'s church, [Redacted], according to the Denver district attorney's office. She was [age redacted] years old when the first assault occurred in 2008, according to testimony. The assaults were reported to police in October 2009, when the victim's mother discovered that her daughter was pregnant.

The case was originally filed in Denver but further investigation showed that most of the assaults had occurred in Adams County. The case was transferred to the 17th Judicial District in Adams County and Denver Deputy District Attorneys Simone Montoya and Dominique Waples-Trefil were appointed as special prosecutors in the case.

[Redacted] testified on his own behalf and denied the allegations. The defense argued that the victim was not a child, based primarily on the fact a birth certificate was never issued in Sierra Leone. The country was in the midst of a civil war at the time.

The victim gave birth to a baby girl in [Redacted] 2010 and paternity tests showed [Redacted] was the father, the district attorney's office said. The jury deliberated about an hour Monday before returning the guilty verdicts.

[Redacted] faces an indeterminate to life sentence with a minimum of 8 to 24 years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 26.