AURORA | A 27-year-old Aurora man faces charges of child sex assault and a dozen counts of exploitation related to digital images found on electronic devices that had to be unlocked by federal experts, according to Aurora police.
Aurora police arrested Aaron Marshall Mocalkins, 27, Sept. 24, with the assistance of law enforcement officers in Colorado Springs and El Paso County.
Mocalkins has been charged with one count of sexual assault of a child, one count of unlawful sexual contact of a child, 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of invasion of privacy of a child victim for sexual gratification and two counts of internet sexual exploitation of a child. He was also charged with three three misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.
The investigation began in March 2022 when Aurora’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit was tipped off that Mocalkins had used the social media app Kik to store and share child sexual abuse images.
Aurora investigators obtained a search warrant and seized undetailed electronic devices from Mocalkins.
“Mocalkins refused to cooperate with the investigation and would not provide detectives with access to his devices,” Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement. “With the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations, detectives were ultimately able to bypass Mocalkins’ passcodes and confirmed he was in possession of thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse material.”
Aurora police worked with Denver DA investigators, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security investigators as part of a group-effort tabbed Colorado Cyber Guardian Task Force, which focuses on crimes involving child exploitation and child-sex trafficking.
Mocalkins is being held at the Arapahoe County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on charges Oct. 17.
Yeah, he looks about like what one would expect for those charges.
In the good old days, he’d already be swinging from a tree branch.