DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A Denver firefighter arrested for child sexual exploitation charges is now dead, according to the Douglas County Coroner’s Office.
Arapahoe County deputies took Eric Trujillo, 39, of Highlands Ranch, into custody on June 2 at Denver Fire Station 36 at 4101 S. Federal Blvd. after receiving a cyber tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He’s suspected of uploading videos to the internet depicting children being sexually assaulted, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
The coroner’s office reported Trujillo’s death June 8. An autopsy has been conducted, but the results and final ruling from the coroner on the cause and manner of death have not been released.
Trujillo was facing two counts of sexual exploitation of a child involving videos, but the charges have since been dropped.
A statement from Trujillo's family provided by their attorney June 14 confirmed he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"Eric Trujillo maintained his innocence and was prepared to defeat the allegations; however, Eric believed that the system, media and the fire department had already presumed him guilty regardless of his right to due process and the presumption of innocence," the statement says, in part. "That, in and of itself, was too much for him to bear and he took his own life because if it."
