Retired APD sergeant to spend 90 days in jail for buying AR-15 for Aurora pipe bomber

AURORA | A retired sergeant with the Aurora Police Department will spend three months in jail for buying a rifle for a convicted felon who admitted to detonating a homemade bomb in Aurora on two separate occasions.

Arapahoe District Court Judge Ryan Stuart this week sentenced Curtiss Christensen, 70, to 90 days in jail, 75 hours of community service and four years of probation for the crime.

In December, Christensen pleaded guilty to buying an AR-15 for Scott Campbell, the suspect in the pair of bombings. Other charges, including tampering with evidence and accessory to a crime, were dismissed, according to the court.

“You have become one of the dangers you and other law enforcement officers have taken oaths to protect us against,” Stuart told Christensen during sentencing hearing. “You made the decision to arm a violent man with a weapon. Your actions in this one case erased an entire career of public service.”

A probable cause affidavit released last spring alleged that Christensen assisted Campbell by helping him get rid of the car he used to transport the bomb and urged him to dispose of other evidence before authorities could seize it.

Investigators relied on extensive phone records, including recorded jail phone calls and captured text messages between Campbell and various members of the Christensen family, to solidify their accusations, the arrest document filed against Christensen showed.

The document released March 10 details how Campbell supposedly constructed multiple pipe bombs using chemicals and plumbing equipment before detonating two of the devices near his residence on South Uravan Street in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, 2020 and Jan. 7, 2021.

Earlier this year, Campbell pleaded guilty to  one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of possession of a weapon by a previous offender. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

At 5:10 a.m. Christmas Day 2020, residential surveillance footage showed a car and trailer — both of which were later linked to Campbell — pass by the home of a 73-year-old woman, court documents show. The driver was seen dropping an object out of the vehicle’s window about 10 seconds before a large explosion sent shrapnel into the older woman’s front door and kitchen.

Ten days later, a nearly identical bombing occurred near 4632 S. Pagosa Circle, sending debris through a 28-year-old woman’s bedroom window. Additional surveillance footage obtained by police showed a driver dropping another ignited device out of a vehicle’s driver side window moments before an explosion.

The blasts damaged a total of three homes, though no injuries were reported.

During the Feb. 14 sentencing for Christensen, members of the family that were in a home near the Jan. 7 bombing said the event was traumatic. 

“No one expects bomb fragments in the place they call home,” they told the judge. “I am sure the defendant’s fellow officers were shocked and dismayed when they learned of his actions.”

Christensen retired from the Aurora Police Department in June 2006 following a 23-year career with the department.

“This defendant swore an oath to uphold the law. That does not give him a pass when it comes to being held accountable for his decisions and his actions,” District Attorney John Kellner said in a statement. “I hope this sends a clear message that might deter others who would cavalierly purchase a firearm for a felon.”

This article includes previous reporting from Sentinel Colorado.