Centennial – A convicted sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy he met at an event run by the city of Aurora gained the boy’s trust by going to a movie with him then providing him alcohol, a detective testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday.
Jermaine Vaden, 29, has been charged with several counts, including sexual assault, failure to register as a sex offender and false imprisonment.
On Thursday in Arapahoe County District Court, an Aurora police detective testified how Vaden, who had worked in the parks department for the city, met the boy at the KidSpree event, where the two volunteered to do chores.
After meeting July 16, Detective Ron Hahn said, Vaden and the boy exchanged phone numbers. Vaden and the boy went to a movie together the next night. After the movie, which started at 10:30 p.m., the two then went to Vaden’s home about 1:45 a.m., Hahn said.
They entered the home, on South Troy Street, through a basement window, Hahn testified, then the boy poured himself a Jim Beam and Coke, which Vaden had at the home where he lived with his stepmother.
Vaden offered to give the boy a massage, and the boy agreed, Hahn said. After that, Hahn said, Vaden tried to have sex with the boy.
“He said he wasn’t raised like that and tried to leave,” Hahn said the boy told police. Vaden then held him in a wrestling move for several minutes, at which time the boy gave up, Hahn said.
Vaden offered the boy up to $100 to let him continue to massage him, but the boy refused, Hahn said. Vaden then gave him $50 and called the boy a cab. The two waited outside for the cab, which took the boy to the Aurora police station, and he reported what happened to police.
Vaden is a registered sex offender from Oklahoma who spent nine years in prison for assaulting two boys. He hadn’t registered in Aurora. Aurora city officials didn’t do a background check on Vaden, who was hired as a seasonal parks employee. The city has changed its rules to screen new employees.
Vaden is scheduled for an arraignment hearing Dec. 1.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
