Dacono man faces life in prison for ‘egregious’ child molestation and sexual assault – Greeley Tribune

A Weld judge on Monday sentenced a Dacono man to 122 years to life on charges of child molestation and child molestation.

Dante Larks, 43, was convicted in April on multiple charges including sexual assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse causing serious bodily harm and two counts of sexually assaulting a child – trust and pattern of abuse, according to a Weld District Attorney’s bureau press release.

“This man is an absolute monster who deserves to spend every second, every minute, every hour, every single day of the rest of his natural life behind bars for his outrageous and horrific behavior,” Assistant District Attorney Arynn Clark said at the sentencing hearing Monday.

Dacono Police began investigating Larks on domestic violence charges in December 2018 before the Weld Attorney’s Office launched their 2019 investigation into child molestation and child molestation charges.

Investigators learned that Larks verbally, physically, emotionally and sexually abused a child victim, the press release said. Larks locked the child in an unfinished basement many nights over a period of several months and refused to let the child out except for a few hours a day, the victim said.

Sometimes the child had to use the toilet in a bucket. The victim also reported that Larks would toss peanuts down the stairs most days as the only source of food.

At night, Larks would go down to the basement and, armed with a gun, sexually assault the sleeping child, the publication said.

“I’m still struggling with the sound of footsteps above me because I can hear him pacing the floorboards and wonder if he’ll come down the stairs tonight,” the victim said Monday.

At the hearing, several victims asked for the maximum sentence of 142 years to life imprisonment.

“Every time you get raped, you lose a piece of your soul,” said one victim. “The day he comes out is the day we flee, hide or die.”

This is the first time that state prosecutors have convinced both a judge and a jury that the effects and long-term damage that PTSD causes to the brain can, and in this case did, result in serious bodily harm, according to the press release.

“This case is by far one of the most horrifying and egregious cases our office has ever seen,” said Weld District Attorney Michael Rourke. “No child should ever experience the horror and trauma that this child must now live with forever.”

Clark and Assistant District Attorney Yvette Guthrie prosecuted this case.