GOLDEN, Colo. — A man who previously worked as a law enforcement officer and then as an investigator with a district attorney’s office faces multiple charges after allegedly sexually assaulting three women.
First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King announced Friday that Wayne Darrell Nelson, 68, was charged with seven counts of alleged sexual assault on three women between April 2018 and December 2020. Nelson worked as an officer with the Westminster Police Department before he was hired by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office as an investigator in 2008. He stayed there until resigning in 2014.
He faces the following charges:
- Attempt to commit sexual assault
- Unlawful sexual contact
- Soliciting prostitution (two counts)
- Unlawful sexual contact (three counts)
The investigation found that prior to his arrest, Nelson taught classes on carrying a concealed weapon and women's self-defense, according to the district attorney's office.
According to an arrest affidavit, the women were Nelson's tenants or roommates at the time of the alleged assaults.
The charges allege that on Dec. 24, 2020, Nelson, then a retired officer, forcibly groped and solicited sex from his 27-year-old tenant in Arvada. In two previous incidents, one in 2018 and a second in 2020, he allegedly assaulted two of his roommates, according to the district attorney's office.
The women told detectives they were afraid to report Nelson because he was a retired police officer.
Nelson turned himself into the Jefferson County Jail Thursday. He is being held on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.
His preliminary hearing is set for July 7, 2021.
