AURORA | An Adams County district court judge has sentenced a 36-year-old Aurora man to 84 years in prison after a jury convicted him of multiple charges stemming from the prolonged abuse of his girlfriend and one of her children, prosecutors said.
“The level of brutality in this case is truly staggering,” District Attorney Brian Mason said in a statement. “This sentence reflects the profound violence and terror these victims endured, and it ensures that Thomas Yorks can no longer harm them—or anyone else. This case is a horrific reminder of the persistent scourge of domestic violence in our community.”
Thomas Yorks was sentenced Oct. 23 by Adams County District Court Judge Jeffrey Ruff following a July 9 conviction on charges including first-degree assault by strangulation, second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury, child abuse and witness tampering, according to a written statement from the 17th Judicial District office.
The sentence was enhanced because of Yorks’ criminal history, which includes convictions for attempted distribution of a controlled substance, attempted child abuse involving negligently causing injury and attempted second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, officials said.
The case began April 18, 2024, when Aurora police officers were called to a local shelter after a woman fled her apartment with her children and reported brutal violence against her and her children, prosecutors said.
The woman told officers that Yorks, her boyfriend of three years and the father of two of her children, had subjected her to escalating and frequent violence for years. She reported being punched, choked, beaten and threatened with death, as well as being prevented from leaving the apartment, having her phone confiscated and being monitored with cameras inside the home.
“She told officers that Yorks controlled nearly every aspect of her life — blocking her from leaving their apartment, confiscating her phone, controlling her finances, and monitoring her movements using in-home cameras,” court officials said in a statement. “She said she had been effectively held hostage for approximately a year.”
When police met with the woman in April, they documented visible injuries, including bruising, swelling and discoloration on one of her children.
“The child reported being punched in the face days earlier and choked unconscious two days before the report,” officials said.
The woman also reported being strangled multiple times, including for several minutes on the morning she fled.
“She also described…being struck in the head with a crowbar—an injury that officers observed as a still-healing wound—and being whipped with a belt and a broom handle,” officials said. “She reported being strangled multiple times, including for several minutes on the morning of April 18, during which Yorks attempted to break her neck against a couch armrest.”
The child described being beaten with broomsticks and cords, handcuffed to a chair and deprived of a place to sleep and food. They also reported that Yorks threatened to kill the woman and repeatedly harmed her in the child’s presence, prosecutors said.
The woman told police in April that Yorks had repeatedly threatened to kill her and recently indicated he planned to do so, investigators said.
The jury convicted Yorks of multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses, including domestic violence-related assault; witness or victim tampering; retaliation and bribery; child abuse involving a pattern of injury; three counts of third-degree assault; and violating a protection order. He also was convicted under Colorado’s habitual criminal sentencing provisions on three counts.
Please do not ever let this man walk the street again.