Aurora man, 27, faces a litany of child sex abuse and exploitation charges

AURORA | A 27-year-old Aurora man is charged with child abuse and a dozen counts of exploitation in connection with digital images found on electronic devices that had to be unlocked by federal experts, according to Aurora police.

Aurora police arrested Aaron Marshall Mocalkins, 27, September 24, with the assistance of law enforcement officers in Colorado Springs and El Paso County.

Mocalkins has been charged with one count of sexual assault of a child, one count of unlawful sexual contact of a child, 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of invasion of privacy of a minor victim for sexual gratification and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. sexual exploitation of a child on the Internet. He was also charged with three felony counts of cruelty to animals.

The investigation began in March 2022 when Aurora’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit was tipped that Mocalkins had used the social media app Kik to store and share images of child sexual abuse.

Aurora investigators obtained a search warrant and seized undetailed electronic devices from Mocalkins.

“Mocalkins refused to cooperate with the investigation and would not give detectives access to his devices,” Aurora police spokesman Joe Moylan said in a statement. “With the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations, investigators were ultimately able to bypass Mocalkins’ passcodes and confirmed that he was in possession of thousands of images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.”

Aurora police worked with Denver DA investigators, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security investigators as part of a group effort called the Colorado Cyber ​​Guardian Task Force, which focuses on crimes involving child exploitation and child sex trafficking.

Mocalkins is being held in the Arapahoe County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the charges on Oct. 17.

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