An Aurora woman will spend more than three decades in prison for sexually abusing three children under the age of 5, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Charlyna Butterworth, 29, took a deal and pleaded guilty to one count of creating and one count of distributing child sexual abuse material, according to federal court records.
The deal dropped additional charges of producing, distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material from her case, court records show.
Between November 2023 and January 2024, Butterworth repeatedly abused three children under the age of five while they were entrusted to her care, and created sexual material of the abuse, according to court documents.
United States District Judge Gordon Gallagher sentenced Butterworth in November to 25 years for producing the videos and images and 11 years for distributing them, court records show. The sentences will be served consecutively.
“This is a serious sentence for a serious crime,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly said in a . “I am grateful that this individual is no longer in a position to harm another child.”
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
