You said you were just stopping to enjoy your burger and fries after meeting with your probation officer, that there had been too many teens milling around the Sonic drive-through. You'd tried to eat in a nearby post office parking lot before but decided that wasn't a good idea, either, since lots of suburban moms bring their kids with them -- kids you're not supposed to look at.
Instead you found a nice, open spot across the street from Eaglecrest High School to eat your lunch and look at the foothills beyond. And, okay, one time might have been understandable. But six? During that sixth lunch break, on February 5, 2003, you finally got busted. A patrolling sheriff's deputy, wondering what a grown man was doing hanging around outside a school, checked your record and found that you'd been convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1992, then charged with promoting obscenity and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2000. For the latter incident, which involved a seventeen-year-old boy, you served three months' jail time and were sentenced to ten years of intense supervised probation. As you know, being anywhere near kids is a violation of your probation, so back to jail you went.
You finally had a chance to explain yourself in Arapahoe District Court on July 15, but Judge John Leopold didn't buy your story. You'd already been kicked out of one sex-offender treatment program, Teaching Humane Existence, which was fine by you ("Arrested Development," December 5, 2002). You didn't like what they did to people there: the arousal detector hooked to offenders' penises; the vials of ammonia men had to sniff whenever they entertained a naughty thought; the philosophy that "you people" have no hope of being cured.
After T.H.E. booted you, you went to the Aurora Mental Health Center, where it seemed you'd be able to regain a bit of dignity and maybe, just maybe, get the treatment you said you wanted. But your probation officer told Judge Leopold that you weren't amenable to treatment. You continued to fail polygraphs, and you still wouldn't admit that you were really a sex offender. Your probation officer argued that you're a risk to the community and should remain behind bars.
You'll have to wait until August to learn your fate. At that time, you'll return to court for a sentencing reconsideration. You could end up in prison or in community corrections. Judge Leopold says the Arapahoe Community Treatment Center, a residential facility for men like you, might give you another chance. But your chances are running out.
