Fort Carson Officer charged with sex assaults involving 6 to 9 year old children

Army officer faces slate of sex assault charges involving children
The Gazette
By Lance Benzel
Published: August 16, 2013

A Fort Carson artillery officer charged in what a judge called an "extraordinary" series of crimes against children in El Paso County - including kidnapping and sexual assault - will face the allegations at a single trial.

First Lt. Aaron Gregory Lucas will be tried beginning Jan. 4 in nine encounters with 11 prepubescent girls, El Paso County District Judge David A. Shakes ruled Friday over the protests of Lucas' attorneys, who argued for five separate trials.

In most of the cases, Lucas, 32, is accused of exposing himself and coercing or trying to coerce the girls to touch his penis.

The victims - generally between the ages of 6 and 9 - allegedly were targeted at random in Colorado Springs, Fountain, and the unincorporated Stratton Meadows neighborhood between June 2010 and October 2012, a period during which Lucas also served a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.

The crimes began shortly after Lucas was transferred to Fort Carson from Texas with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, according to investigators, who say there was a lull in such crimes while Lucas was overseas.
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