A former high school security guard was sentenced Oct. 12 to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting a student at the school.
Gary Postell
Judge Shay Whitaker on Friday sentenced Gary Postell, 51, to eight years in the Colorado Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty Aug. 17 to child abuse negligently causing serious bodily injury, a Class 4 felony. Whitaker sentenced Postell to 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation on the count of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 3 felony. Other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
The student reported the incident on Nov. 28, 2016, and Postell was arrested the next day.
“Yet again we have another adult who held himself out as a trusted protector of our children, who instead used that ill-gotten trust to harm one of them,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “Our community should receive two messages from cases such as these: Sexual assault victims who come forward will be treated with respect and dignity by our office; and those who create such victims should expect to go to prison.
“I am glad his victim can move forward from this event and try to find some healing. I am glad this defendant will serve time behind bars, and I hope this serves as a deterrent to others who would take advantage of our children.”
The mother of the victim addressed the court during sentencing.
“How sick do you have to be to attack a 15-year-old child?” she asked. My daughter “was not protected by the security guard. … Adults are obligated to look after children and take care of them, not prey on them.”
The mother added: “He is responsible, not the child, not my daughter. I am here to see him taken away in handcuffs like he deserves.”
Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Dawson addressed the court, as well.
“I can’t imagine a more quintessential position of trust than the relationship this defendant had with this child,” he said. “This crime occurred during the school day, in the school. That was the level of need and appetite this defendant had for this child. This sentence is absolutely appropriate.”