Aurora man arrested in child pornography investigation

Police have arrested an Aurora man suspected of having thousands of images of child pornography on his electronic devices. Content authorities say he tried to evade investigators by refusing to release passcodes for his devices.

The Aurora Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit arrested Aaron Marshall Mocalkins, 27, on September 24. He could face 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. child, two counts of invasion of privacy of a minor victim for sexual gratification and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child via the Internet.

The charges, which have not been officially filed by the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office, are felonies. Mocalkins also faces three felony counts of cruelty to animals.

Aurora police announced the arrest Thursday afternoon.

In March 2022, Internet Crimes Against Children detectives received a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children about a user of the social media app Kik who police said was in possession of child sexual abuse material. It was traced to Mocalkins, who refused to cooperate with investigators.