Affidavit alleges CSPD officer attempted to intimidate victim
Nov 25, 2024
WARNING: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual contact with a child and may be distressing for some readers. Discretion is advised.
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — FOX21 News has received more details on the case of the 30-year veteran officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) who was arrested for allegedly intimidating a victim.
According to an arrest affidavit, 58-year-old Sergeant Glenn Eric Thomas had intimidated the victim, a 10-year-old girl, into retracting a previous statement she had made about Thomas inappropriately touching her.
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The inappropriate touching incident allegedly happened on Saturday, Aug. 24, when the 10-year-old spent the night at Thomas' home. The court documents allege the 10-year-old was in Thomas' bed when he reached under her shirt and touched and rubbed her breasts. She said she pretended to be asleep until Thomas got up and left.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) was notified, and a case worker conducted an interview on Sept. 11, in which the 10-year-old disclosed the same statement about the incident. On Sept. 20, she was also interviewed by the Woodland Park Police Department (WPPD), where she also told police the same thing about Thomas touching her inappropriately.
On Oct. 4, Thomas was interviewed by WPPD and denied ever touching the 10-year-old's breast or anywhere else on her body.
After that interview, Thomas called CSPD Lieutenant Shannon Snuggs and asked her for a "professional" and "recorded" response on whether he should confront the 10-year-old about the accusation.
"You don't want anybody to think you're trying to influence what [the child] says or how she's feeling, or intimidate her in any way," Snuggs told Thomas. "And so, if Woodland Park's investigation is ongoing then I don't know that confronting [the child] with anything that is said at this point is the best course of action."
Regardless of Snugg's advice, the documents state that Thomas went to the 10-year-old's school and confronted her. Video surveillance showed Thomas was in the office with the 10-year-old and wanted someone to be present for the conversation he wanted to have with her.
The three then went to a conference room where Thomas told the 10-year-old he was visited by Teller County and thus was late and couldn't bring her food. He then told the 10-year-old he wanted to know "what was going on."
The documents allege Thomas twice asked the 10-year-old if she was lying to somebody, to which she replied yes. Thomas continued the conversation asking about specific incidents. The third party asked what the allegations were and was told by Thomas that it was about the alleged inappropriate touch. The third party in the room told Thomas to leave and they asked the 10-year-old if she had lied to WPPD, to which she replied yes and was then sent back to class.
WPPD was contacted, and police advised that CSPD be contacted to report the incident, as the school was not in the WPPD jurisdiction.
The 10-year-old told an investigator who was interviewing her she couldn't tell Thomas the allegations were true because she felt like he would hurt her.
"I did not want to say 'yes you did this' and like confront him on it. Because he would obviously hurt me," the child reportedly told an investigator.
The child told the investigator that she had witnessed several violent incidents involving Thomas, citing an example where he allegedly kicked down a door to a room and left bruises and cuts on an unidentified individual. She also talked about a time when Thomas allegedly pointed a gun at her and another person in their Teller County home.
The affidavit said the child told an investigator after the incident with the gun that Thomas allegedly bought "wish paper" but called it "lie paper," instructing the child to write "lies" on the paper then burn it and never tell the "lie" again.
According to the affidavit, on Oct. 9, the DHS Case Worker re-interviewed the child, and she said she lied to both Thomas and the third party at the school because she was scared of Thomas. The case worker also told police that Thomas allegedly asked the child "why did you lie," which the case worker felt was a leading question, and that he did not bring lunch as a form of punishment.
The affidavit alleges that Thomas' attempt to influence the child to provide false information through his body language, tone, and the threat that Thomas would be arrested, constituted victim intimidation.