Douglas County child-exploitation unit makes five arrests in two months

Five arrests, three search warrants and a two-month timeline put Douglas County’s new child-exploitation unit on an urgent footing across Castle Rock, Parker and the rest of the 23rd Judicial District.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the 23rd Judicial District Internet Crimes Against Children unit was fully operational for two months before the April 13 release and had already moved on multiple cases involving people using digital platforms to solicit sexual acts from minors or exploit children online. Sheriff Darren Weekly’s office said the early results show the task force was built to act quickly, coordinate across agencies and keep pace with offenders who can hide behind screens.

The unit brings together detectives from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Castle Rock Police Department and the Parker Police Department, along with a part-time investigator from the 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office and a senior deputy district attorney assigned to ICAC and human trafficking support. That legal and investigative mix is important in cyber-enabled cases, where digital traces can disappear quickly and prosecutors often need evidence preserved fast.

The sheriff’s office said its Impact Unit handles surveillance and arrests during ICAC operations, while the Special Operations Response Team provides secure transport. The unit’s founding training came from Covenant Rescue Group and Legacy Relief Project, with technical help from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office CHEEZO Unit. Officers and investigators from Elizabeth, Limon and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office also joined joint training, widening the region’s anti-exploitation network beyond Douglas County.

The work sits inside a larger national enforcement system. The federal Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program began in 1998 and now includes 61 task forces and nearly 5,500 affiliated agencies. In fiscal year 2024, task forces handled about 203,467 investigations, led to more than 12,600 arrests and trained about 46,000 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other professionals.

The program says it has reviewed more than 844,600 complaints of child sexual victimization and made more than 89,400 arrests since inception. Parker Police says its ICAC detective handles internet-related crimes including attempts to engage underage children in sexual contact, webcam-based exploitation and child pornography offenses, a reminder that many of these cases begin with ordinary-looking messages and escalate quickly.

The 23rd Judicial District, established Jan. 14, 2025, covers Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. For families in Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Parker, Lone Tree and the county’s more rural stretches, the new unit means local agencies are now working with a shared regional structure aimed at spotting online predators before they can reach a child.