Steven McQuay posted fliers throughout the metro area looking for kids to work for him selling candles, police said.
The 23-year-old Denver man was arrested by Fort Collins police over the weekend after a resident complained that 11 rain-soaked kids were walking around in 59-degree weather selling candles door to door.
McQuay drove the children, ranging in age from 10 to 14, from Denver to Fort Collins on Saturday in a van that seats only five, police said.
A check of McQuay’s background included arrests for public consumption of alcohol and careless driving, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
Once in Fort Collins, McQuay dropped the children off in pairs in neighborhoods to sell candles.
After police were contacted, nine children were found soaking wet. After his arrest, McQuay told police he was missing two children. They were later found waiting on a curb wearing soaked clothing.
McQuay is being held on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a felony, and a misdemeanor allegation of child abuse, police said. He had not been charged but was advised of the allegations in court Monday.
“The conditions the kids were working under – they were in a strange town for hours unattended, they had no money and were left outside in the dark,” said Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis, discussing why McQuay was arrested.
Fort Collins also has an ordinance barring door-to-door sales, and “he brought the kids up here for the purpose of doing that,” Davis said.
Police said he told them the teens worked for him through a business called Positive Teens. It could not be located in the phone book, the Internet or any business databases.
