Arapahoe County – A 32-year-old man accused of masquerading as a teenager so he could sexually assault children had help with his alleged sham thanks to the deceit of his mother, authorities say.
Prosecutors say Soldad McGhee, 54, introduced her son, Zuri-Kye McGhee, to other parents and led them to believe he was as young as 13.
She perpetuated the myth by dropping him off at people’s homes while she went shopping, paying his rent – although he told people he lived with an uncle – and even bringing him phony homework, said Deputy District Attorney Melissa Drazen-Smith.
She didn’t tell the parents her son’s real age until she was confronted last summer, which led to Zuri-Kye McGhee’s arrest.
The man who so many people allegedly thought was a short, muscular teen is being held on $2 million bail and begins a three-week trial July 17 on 77 counts, mostly felonies, that include sexual assault on a child and unlawful sexual contact.
Zuri-Kye McGhee’s alleged victims include 18 boys and two girls, most between the ages of 9 and 14. One boy said he was assaulted as many as 100 times. Another said it happened as many as 50 times.
Soldad McGhee was arrested last week and made her first court appearance Thursday. She is charged with three counts of sexual assault on a child and one count of sexual assault using physical force. Prosecutors said she didn’t commit the crimes but was complicit in helping her son attack at least four victims.
“There will be more victims in Soldad McGhee’s case,” Drazen- Smith said. If convicted, she could face life in prison.
During her court appearance, the 4-foot-7 Soldad McGhee wore an orange jail jumpsuit and peered over a courtroom lectern as Judge Robert Tobias considered lowering her $100,000 bail.
Before the judge could decide, two mothers of alleged victims stood up and pleaded for the bail to be increased.
“This woman brought her 30- year-old son to stay with us,” one said. “She lied to my face.”
Another mother began to cry while asking the bail to be raised “as high as possible to keep the woman off the street.”
Tobias didn’t change the bail amount and set a preliminary hearing for Aug. 1.
Drazen-Smith said Soldad McGhee should have known about her son’s past.
In 1998, he was charged with 23 felony counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. He pleaded guilty a year later to a felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and served a 321-day jail sentence.
Drazen-Smith said Soldad McGhee sat through her son’s preliminary hearing in New Mexico, knew about his plea agreement and was aware that he had spent almost a year in jail on allegations of sexual abuse against children.
But when he moved to Colorado after his release, Soldad McGhee began introducing him to families with young children “as a minor child, not a man,” Drazen-Smith said. “She was supporting him in portraying himself as a child.”
The first introduction allowed Zuri-Kye McGhee to become “entrenched” with one family that had a 16-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, Drazen- Smith said. Zuri-Kye McGhee even went to Arkansas Elementary School in Aurora with the 11-year-old and posed as his stepbrother, she said.
“That group led to another group,” Drazen-Smith said.
Zuri-Kye McGhee’s alleged victims have told investigators that he held slumber parties and gatherings at his apartment where children watched pornography, and he demanded that boys masturbate with him.
Some allege that McGhee had sex with them; others said he threatened to beat them up if they didn’t comply.
In August, The Denver Post contacted Soldad McGhee, who said she believed he was innocent of the charges against him in New Mexico. And she wanted to believe he was innocent of the new charges.
“I still would like to believe the good in my son,” she said.
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
