A previous sex offender gets a plea deal after being accused of using false identification to get hired at CU Boulder

A Boulder man accused of using his brother’s ID to get a job at the University of Colorado Boulder despite previously being a sex offender in Boulder County took a plea deal in early September.

Alejandro De Varona, 38, was initially charged with criminal impersonation, failure to register as a sex offender and sex offender registration – relocation/name change, a class 1 misdemeanor.

However, on September 12, he pleaded guilty to sex offender registry transfer/name change. Upon entering the plea, the remaining charges were dismissed.

De Varona filled out an application for a management job at CU Boulder’s Norlin Library on March 8, but instead of listing his own name, he listed that of his brother, Luis De Varona, according to an affidavit.

After De Varona was hired by CU Boulder, he filled out a federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form using his real name, according to the affidavit. When his employers noticed the discrepancy, a check of De Varona’s records revealed that he is a registered sex offender with the Boulder Police Department.

As of June 11, his sex offender registration still indicated he was employed at Wells Fargo Bank at 1960 28th St. in Boulder, according to the affidavit.

A CU Boulder Police Department investigator was later told by an employee responsible for maintaining and updating sex offender registrations that De Varona last spoke to the individual in May, and he did not indicate his place of work changed, the affidavit said.

After police learned this information, they issued an arrest warrant for De Varona because he “intentionally completed an application for employment at CU Boulder by using personal identification belonging to another person in order to obtain a job for which he otherwise would not be eligible. to his status as a registered sex offender.”

In January 2022, De Varona pleaded guilty in Boulder District Court to sexual exploitation of a child – possession of twenty or more items, a class 5 misdemeanor.

As part of the plea deal, Boulder Deputy Trial Chief Catrina Weigel said De Varona would be sentenced to intensive probation under sex offender supervision and would be required to register as a sex offender.

In August 2016, a Boulder County Sheriff’s Office detective investigating online child pornography alerted Boulder police when he was able to download two files of child pornography from a peer-to-peer network user connected to an IP address in Boulder, according to an arrest affidavit. . Police traced De Varona’s IP address and obtained search warrants for his home and electronics.

Boulder police conducted a forensic examination of De Varona’s computer in April 2017 and discovered that he had deleted the two files containing child pornography videos that detectives had been able to download from his IP address in August. Officers also found 181 photos containing child pornography, according to the affidavit.

Originally published: September 26, 2024 at 6:52 PM