Child porn trial set for former police officer after six delays

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) – More than three years after law enforcement was alerted to an internet child sex crime, a retired Cherry Hills Village police officer has pleaded not guilty.

Jerry Stinnett appeared at his arraignment hearing Friday afternoon via WebEx on charges of sexual exploitation of a child/video and sexual exploitation of child pornography.

The 65-year-old was previously charged in March 2022, but his arraignment was delayed six times and today he again requested a continuance.

Arapahoe County Judge Joseph Whitfield denied the request and set a trial date for the week of March 25, 2024.

Internet service provider Yahoo first told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in July 2020 that a user “uploaded and shared images that they considered to be child sex abuse materials (CSAM) on its servers had”. to an affidavit from the FOX31 Problem Solvers.

The NCMEC then conducted a geolocation search of the IP address and determined it was most likely associated with Comcast in the Denver metropolitan area.

At this time, the cyber tip was forwarded to the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).

The ICAC sent a subpoena to Comcast on October 14, 2020, and the following day Comcast said the subscriber’s IP address belonged to Jerry Stinnett in Aurora.

On November 10, 2020, the case was assigned to an Aurora police officer who is a member of the ICAC task force.

Yahoo provided seven images and three videos of women under the age of 18, either nude or engaged in sexual acts.

In January, investigators learned that Stinnett and his wife spent their winters in Florida and their summers in Colorado.

Investigators waited for the couple to return to Colorado, and on June 29, 2021, a SWAT team executed a search warrant while the couple was at home and seized a desktop computer, three laptops, three tablet computers and four cell phones .

According to the affidavit, investigators found “27 image files and 9 videos that showed underage women either naked and/or engaging in sexual acts.”

Aurora police Detective Patrick McGinty described Stinnett as very talkative during the search warrant, writing that Stinnett only mentioned that he had access to all files related to the child pornography and that he chats online with people “who enjoy role-playing games.” ” and that he chats with people “who enjoy role-playing games”. “Are 25 and act like they’re 15.”

He also told police that he “never intentionally searches for or downloads child pornography” and that he “hopes” police would not find child pornography on his devices.

When the search warrant was filed against Stinnett, he “spontaneously stated that he had gotten in trouble for regular pornography while working for the Frisco Police Department. He explained that he was sitting at his work computer and an ad for a pornographic website popped up. Stinnett said the pop-up ad triggered an alert to the city’s IT department and that he then received a call from a supervisor. He stated that after he explained everything, nothing else happened.”

The Troubleshooters contacted the Frisco Police Department and a spokeswoman told FOX31 that Stinnett was never investigated for misconduct during his tenure with the Frisco Police Department.

In August 2021, investigators managed to extract several pieces of evidence from Stinnett’s devices. Ultimately, investigators allegedly recovered nine videos and 27 images of child pornography from Stinnett’s devices, prompting a judge to sign an arrest warrant in February 2022.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against him in March 2022, but his arraignment has been postponed six times since then.

Now, 18 months later, Stinnett has finally pleaded not guilty.

Stinnett was first hired by the Frederick Police Department in January 1993 and resigned in May 1996. He then worked for the Frisco Police Department from June 1996 to January 2007.

In February 2007, he began employment with the Cherry Hills Village Police Department until he resigned in August 2013.

His next court date for a status conference is scheduled for November 17, 2023.