Customers of Ari's Barbershop have reported barber Cesar Diaz to the police on at least four occasions, alleging that Diaz groped their genitals, offered sexual favors and behaved in ways that left them "distraught" and "shaking," according to law enforcement records. Three of the reports were made in 2022 and 2023, when the barbershop operated in Westminster. The latest report came last month, involving the shop's new Denver location.
Matt, who asked to only use his first name in this story, was the latest person to report Diaz for alleged misconduct. He ended up at Ari's Barbershop in June while looking for a new barber near his girlfriend's place. When he arrived for his haircut at 3609 West Colfax Avenue, Matt found himself in a room with one chair, no other customers and a lone barber.
Matt says the appointment quickly turned "weird" as Diaz commented on Matt's body hair and eyes, and called him a "beautiful boy." During the haircut, Matt alleges that Diaz caressed his face and put his hand over his nose and mouth. Matt says he tried to subtly move his face away, but then Diaz started pressing his pelvis into Matt's side while leaning in to cut his hair.
"It felt like he was trying to drop his dick on my shoulder, repeatedly," Matt says. "I would move away. He would just keep coming in. It was radically different than normal contact you would anticipate at a barbershop."
After the haircut, Matt says Diaz offered to trim his eyebrows, but told him he would have to "come into the back room and lay down for him." Matt says he refused and left, later writing a Google review detailing the "uncomfortable and disturbing encounter."
Matt says he then began receiving phone calls and texts from unknown and blocked numbers. The phone numbers provided to Westword are from VoIP phone systems that let users make calls and texts over the internet, but Matt claims he recognized Diaz's voice as the initial caller.
"He asked why I was trying to ruin him. And then it devolved into name-calling. He called me gay boy, faggot, told me that I was hard [during the haircut]," Matt says. Screenshots of the text messages sent to Matt call him a "drama queen," "in the closet" and ask "why do you not run away if you was so uncorfotbale (sic) lol."
Diaz denies all of Matt's accusations, claiming that he did not place his hand on Matt's mouth or nose, and that the barber chair would block him from touching a customer with his pelvis. Instead, Diaz accuses Matt of making "threatening statements" toward him following the haircut, and says he contacted the police himself. The Denver Police Department declines to release any information about the incident, citing an "ongoing investigation," though it confirms that only one police report was filed involving the Denver barbershop. Matt provided Westword the report number and confirmation card of his police report, suggesting that the one report filed was from him, not Diaz.
"I did not engage in inappropriate behavior with [Matt]," counters Diaz, who has been a licensed cosmetologist in Colorado since 2016. "Being gay does not equate to being a predator."
But Matt is far from the first person to make such claims against Diaz. After Matt posted about the encounter on Reddit, numerous commenters said they had similar experiences with Diaz. Other commenters found years-old reviews of Ari's Barbershop describing more "uncomfortable" and "creepy" behavior from Diaz, including one accusing him of sexual assault in 2022, which Westword reported on July 7.
Two different customers called 911 after they said Diaz groped their genitals during haircuts at Ari's Barbershop's former Westminster location at 7141 Irving Street, according to records from the Westminster Police Department.
The first accuser said Diaz repeatedly grabbed his penis over his pants while he got a perm in June 2022, despite him smacking Diaz's hand away and telling him to stop, according to the police report. The report states that the customer claimed Diaz spoke of "how good at oral sex he was," showed photos of naked women when the customer told Diaz he was straight, tried to put his hand under the customer's shorts, and "fondled his testicles" when hugging the customer goodbye.
The second accuser said Diaz reached into his pants and touched his penis during a haircut in February 2023, claiming it was an accident while brushing hair off his lap, according to the police report. Later, while getting his eyebrows waxed with his eyes closed, the customer claimed he felt something brush against his mouth. He "opened his eyes and Cesar's lips were starting to touch his lips," the report reads.
Police declined to pursue charges in the first case due to lack of evidence, as Diaz denied the allegation. The second case was dropped after the accuser said he did not want to testify in court.
A third report of unlawful sexual contact from June 2023 resulted in Diaz's arrest in August 2023; however, the district attorney ultimately dismissed the case, according to records from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. A spokesperson for the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why the charge was dropped, as the record of the case was sealed.
Diaz says that all of the allegations made against him over the years are "lies," adding that he cannot comment on the police reports specifically unless he is given the names of the accusers, which are censored. Regarding the third case that resulted in his arrest in 2023, Diaz claims he fought the charge in court for a year, and the accuser ultimately stopped showing up or responding to lawyers.
Diaz claims he has never had any kind of sexual contact with a client at work, though he has gone out with some men whom he met as customers. Diaz describes his behavior at the barbershop as consensual flirty conversation, not harassment or assault.
"As they have said it, that I harass them, it isn't like that," Diaz says (note: the interview with Diaz was conducted in Spanish at his request, and translated to English). "They spend a happy time with me and then go crying like little girls, saying that I did this and that, but it's not like that."
Diaz says that he closed the Colfax barbershop shortly after Westword's initial article was published. Ari's Barbershop is no longer available on Booksy.com as of July 24, and the business's Facebook and Instagram accounts appear to have been deactivated. However, the shop's Google business page has been reactivated under the new name "CR Barbershop," which mirrors Diaz's initials, Cesar Rene.
In addition to making a police report, Matt says he filed a complaint with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, which oversees professional licensing for barbers in the state. A spokesperson for DORA says the department cannot confirm or disclose information about active investigations. Diaz's cosmetologist license is still active and has received no disciplinary action, according to state licensing records.
Diaz claims his accusers are "in-the-closet" men who consensually flirt or go out with him, then regret it later, or men who come on to Diaz and are upset he rejects their advances. Screenshots of Diaz's since-deleted responses to negative online reviews show Diaz accusing complaining customers of being confused about their sexuality or of being on drugs.
"It's very complicated for men like that in the closet," Diaz says. "I'm an adult, and the clients I have are adults, not children. They're adults of thirty, 29, 28. ...They can defend themselves, they can even hit me. ...They act one way around me and then they go off and act another way. I don't force them to do anything."
That's not how some of Diaz's former customers describe their encounters with the barber. Westword interviewed four men who say Diaz acted in a sexually inappropriate manner toward them when they patronized Ari's Barbershop in Westminster; they asked to use their first names only, for privacy and concerns of retaliation.
Chris went to the barbershop for the first and last time in the summer of 2024. He says the touching started gradually, claiming Diaz began by squeezing his shoulders and arms, then rubbing the side of Chris's face with the back of his hand. During the haircut, Chris says Diaz pressed his pelvis into his body. Beyond the physical contact, Chris describes the conversation as "graphic" and "weird."
Chris says Diaz asked him if he "fucks men." When Chris told him he is happily married to a woman, he says Diaz responded, "A lot of men are married and still have sex with men. I go to bars and I seduce married men all the time." Chris says Diaz then asked him if he likes transgender people and suddenly showed him a photo of a naked trans woman, telling sexual stories about her. At the end of the haircut, Chris says Diaz gave him a very long hug and "a prolonged kiss on the cheek."
"I feel violated. I feel like I was sexually assaulted. Not in a very aggressive way, but still there's an invasion," Chris says. "This was supposed to be a professional relationship, and it felt like there were multiple lines crossed throughout."
Jose recounts a similar experience more than two years prior, in early 2022. He says Diaz repeatedly pressed his pelvis against his arms for prolonged periods. He alleges that Diaz also intentionally dropped items on the ground so he could bend over and pick them up, hovering his face around Jose's genital area while doing so.
"I'm definitely disappointed that it's still happening," Jose says. "That they're able to just jump from place to place and continue their ways, doing what they've been doing, even with the police reports."
A Booksy confirmation email for a haircut appointment with Diaz. Date censored for privacy.
Courtesy photo
"He wasn't physical until you're in the chair," Josh says. "I had the perm in my hair and my head laid back, so I was like a prisoner. I can't just get up."
Josh claims Diaz commented on his abs and tried to put his hand on Josh's shirt, but Josh swatted his hand away. Later, Josh says Diaz offered to trim his pubic hair, which he declined. At the end of the appointment, Josh says Diaz asked to perform oral sex on him.
"He said, 'Let me suck your cock,' twice," Josh says. "I just said 'no,' and left. At some point, I started ignoring him and just walked away, because he wouldn't stop. He's not chasing you around the barbershop, but he is the most forward guy I've ever met in my life by a long shot. ...He never actually touched me, but he was coming on to me crazy aggressive."
Thomas says Diaz was so sexually suggestive during his hair appointment in early 2022 that he assumed Diaz was a sex worker and the barbershop was a front for an illicit operation.
Thomas says Diaz asked him, "What are you here for?" or "What do you want?" five or six times during the appointment, despite Thomas repeating what kind of haircut he wanted over and over again. He claims Diaz initially played with his hair and brushed the side of his face with his hand, which he says "seemed normal" for a haircut. It then escalated to caressing the back of Thomas's neck and running his fingers along Thomas's ears. Things only got "more sexual" from there, Thomas alleges.
"He would be on the side of me cutting my hair, and he would press his crotch into my shoulder. At times, it felt like he was kind of gyrating it on my shoulder, pushing it in and out," Thomas says. "At the beginning, I kind of questioned myself, 'Maybe you're just being hypersensitive.' ...And then as time went on, I was like, 'No, he's clearly touching me inappropriately.'"
Thomas says he was left feeling "shaken up" after the appointment, but initially blamed himself for the interaction, thinking he had mistakenly walked into some kind of prostitution operation asking for a haircut.
"I felt almost like I'd done something wrong. I thought maybe he was offering some kind of service, and I was just a moron for going to this place. ...I was in the wrong place, and it was my fault," Thomas says. "Looking back, him grinding up on my shoulder, even if that was him trying to get some kind of other more explicit business, that's still completely inappropriate and qualifies as sexual assault."
Chris, Jose, Josh and Thomas all say they did not leave a review or file a police report about their interactions with Diaz, though they add that they each now wish they had at the time.
Matt claims that more accusers have reached out to him individually since he shared his experience with Diaz online.
"I was glad to at least give people the permission to say that something fucked up had happened to them," Matt says. "I'm very engaged in seeing this case brought as far as it possibly can. I truly believe, to my core, that he is not going to stop his behavior and most likely will continue to escalate."
