A Brighton High School coach continued teaching for a year after he was caught in a law enforcement sting e-mailing pictures of his genitals to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Andy Weaver, 28, who was caught sending pictures in March 2007, worked until Thursday when he was placed on paid administrative leave.
It was the same day he appeared in a Grand Junction court on a charge of Internet sexual exploitation of a child, authorities say. His bond was set at $25,000.
Allison Lockwood, spokeswoman for School District 27J, said high school officials would have preferred to learn immediately about Weaver’s involvement in the case. Had they known, Weaver would have been suspended immediately pending an investigation, she said.
“We only learned of the incident late Thursday evening,” Lockwood said.
Heather Benjamin, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office investigator, said although investigators identified Weaver as the man sending explicit messages and photographs in May, they did not learn he was a teacher until he appeared in court Thursday.
“Had we known earlier, I’m sure we would have contacted his school immediately,” Benjamin said.
When it was learned that Weaver was a teacher at Thursday’s hearing, a sheriff’s investigator did contact district authorities, who placed Weaver on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Weaver resigned Friday.
In March of 2007 the Mesa County sheriff’s office along with Grand Junction police and the Mesa County district attorney’s office conducted a sting in which an investigator posed as a 14-year-old girl on the Internet, Benjamin said.
Weaver, thinking he was replying to a girl, allegedly sent a message to the investigator and sent pictures of his genitals by e-mail, she said. He also requested nude pictures of the girl, she said.
But an arrest warrant wasn’t issued until Dec. 19, according to court records.
The warrant was not filed earlier because of case prioritization at the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, Benjamin said. One factor was that Weaver had not actually molested a child, she said.
Although investigators knew Weaver’s address, they did not go to Broomfield to arrest him when the warrant was issued because of limited resources.
They issued a warrant, and Weaver was arrested when Denver police stopped him for an unknown reason on March 25, according to Benjamin and Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
Benjamin added that catching men who try to abuse children is important.
“This is really dangerous,” Benjamin said. “If it is a 12-, 13-, or 14-year-old girl being manipulated by these older men, then it’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
