JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – A 20-year-old camp counselor at the Eagle Lake Day Camp has been charged with one count of sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust after he allegedly groped an 11-year-old girl at the camp.
Tolar Mitchell Locke, 20, who is originally from Alabama, was charged Friday in Jefferson County District Court. He has since posted a $15,000 bond and is being monitored by Pretrial Services, the district attorney’s office said.
According to an affidavit for Locke’s arrest, he rubbed the girl’s thigh on two days in early July. A day later, he rubbed her lower back and placed his hand on her buttocks, according to the affidavit.
The girl told her mother when she picked her up from camp later that day that a counselor had touched her and “made her feel uncomfortable.” The girl then told her mother that Mitchell had touched her buttocks and rubbed her back, according to the affidavit.
The camp’s lead counselor provided investigators with a statement from Locke, and on July 12, Locke agreed to speak with investigators at the sheriff’s office.
There, according to the affidavit, he waived his Miranda Rights and admitted to rubbing the girls leg and touching her buttocks and lower back. He said he allegedly did so because he was lonely, according to the affidavit.
“Tolar stated that he had been going through a lot lately,” the affidavit says. “He recently broke up with his girlfriend and was feeling depressed and suicidal. He did what he did because he was lonely and wanted to feel close to someone physically.”
Locke is set for a preliminary hearing in the case on Aug. 15.
The Navigators, which runs the camp, told Denver7 that it was cooperating with the investigation. It said the Eagle Lake Day Camp “values safety and dignity of every child” and says that every counselor is trained in child safety and goes through a background check before being hired.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about the case to contact the sheriff’s office at 303-271-5612.
