CENTENNIAL | A man accused of sex trafficking after police say he assaulted multiple teens at a swank Aurora home — where investigators say he forced teens to have sex in exchange for gifts, shelter and food — should stand trial on multiple felonies, a judge ruled Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Lawyers for Sean Travis Crumpler, 49, had argued during a hearing Tuesday that while Crumpler had sex with and provided gifts and other items to several boys at his southeast Aurora home, he never threatened violence against them if they refused sex.
But Deputy District Attorney Cara Moran argued that because some of the boys were 16 at the time, Crumpler is guilty of a felony.
Judge John Scipione sided with prosecutors and said there is ample evidence for Crunpler to stand trial on multiple felonies, including sex trafficking and unlawful sexual contact charges related to three different boys who were 16 at the time.
Scipione said the boys were among 10 to 15 people between the ages of 16 and 21 who lived at Crumpler’s home — including teenage runaways from California who Crumpler recruited to live with him — who were allowed to stay there only if they “capitulated” to Crumpler’s sexual whims.
“Mr. Crumpler essentially provided a haven — though not a safe one — for at-risk runaways,” Scipione said at the end of the three-hour hearing that included graphic testimony about the sex acts at the home.
With no place to go, the teens were essentially forced to endure degrading sexual acts, Scipione said.
“Or else be out on the street,” he said. “The rules were ‘service my sexual needs or get out of here.’”
Crumpler, who is a registered sex offender, was arrested in August 2015 after police said one of the teen’s grandmothers contacted police and told them she believed her 16-year-old grandson was being exploited.
Aurora police Detective Chris Fanning, who is assigned to the FBI’s Innonce Lost Taskforce that investigates human trafficking cases, said the investigation started with police in California but eventually spread to Aurora, where police learned there were reports of several children being exploited at Crumpler’s home.
In interviews with some of the teens and young men who lived at the home, Fanning said police learned Crumpler used the social media app Grindr to meet young men who would live under his roof in exchange for sex.
“They made it pretty clear that sex had to be exchanged,” he said.
One teen said Crumpler referred to his use of the app — where he used the screen name “Daddy” — as “hunting.” Crumpler also used the teens to recruit other young men, Fanning said.
“Everybody basically indicated he wanted younger kids,” he said.
Fanning said one of the teens told police Crumpler gave him alcohol but told him not to drink too much because it was “bad for his body.”
Crumpler’s lawyers said in the case of one boy, who was 16 when he lived with Crumpler and had a sexual relationship with him, the boy had lied to Crumpler and the other men in the house and said he was 18.
Elisa Stewart, one of Crumpler’s lawyers, said that in an intervew with police, the boy said, “I mean, like, it’s not their fault, I lied to them.”
The boy also showed Crumpler a fake ID that said he was 18 and Crumpler took a photo of the ID, she said.
The lawyers also said that in the case of one boy, Aurora police never interviewed him and relied solely on police reports from police in Long Beach, Calif.
But prosecutors said there was physical evidence, including documents at the Crumpler home with names matching some of the people the boy told police about, that corroborated the boy’s statement.
Crumpler is free on bond pending his trial.