CENTENNIAL | A former Cherry Creek High School softball coach was sentenced to 10 years of probation Monday for soliciting explicit material from a teenage girl in Virginia who later took her own life.
Paul Severtson, 38, was arrested by Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office deputies in July and charged with criminal solicitation, a class 4 felony. He pleaded guilty in December, according to online court records, and was sentenced Monday. As part of his sentence, Severtson will have to register as a sex offender and pay about $10,000 in fees.
Severtson was arrested after the sheriff’s office was contacted by law enforcement officials in Hanover, Va. about a juvenile girl who had died by suicide. Investigators in Virginia found
AGE 37, via Arapahoe County Sheriff Department.
that the girl had been messaging Severtson on several social media apps, a news release from July announcing his arrest said. The girl’s age was not released.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office investigators said officers found that Severtson was active on the social media messaging app Kik, where he had several accounts passing him off as a 22-to-23-year-old.
“Investigators found that Severtson was attempting to persuade his victim to produce and send nude images and videos of herself, which due to her age, would be considered child sexual abuse material,” the release said.
At the time of his arrest, Severtson was the head coach of the Cherry Creek High School girls softball team and the Colorado Styxx girl’s softball club, the release said. From November 2017 to August 2020 he also coached at Heritage High School, Littleton High School and Chaparral High School.
Along with coaching, Severtson had also worked as a paraprofessional at Cherry Creek High School, West Middle School and with a small group of students at Cherry Creek Elevation, the district’s online school. He was fired immediately after the district was notified of his arrest.
In July, the Sheriff’s Office said it was concerned Severtson had more victims and encouraged anyone with any information about him to contact the tipline at 720-874-8477. Severtson was active on Kik under the accounts Tyson Richard with a username “TYSONHELP,” and Reggie Collins username, “REGGIEBBC11,” and as Jordan Styme, username, “JSTYME8080,” the Sheriff’s Office said. There are not currently any pending charges against him in Colorado, according to online court records.