DENVER – A man previously convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl while posing as an immigration doctor has again been arrested over allegations he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl earlier this month in Aurora under a similar guise.
Kenneth Dean Lee, 65, was arrested on Dec. 10 for investigation of sexual assault on a child and first-degree burglary, Aurora police said Tuesday.
According to the department, on Dec. 9, Lee allegedly identified himself as an immigration official, went into a home in the 1300 block of N. Chester Street in northwest Aurora, and sexually assaulted the young girl.
Aurora police said prosecutors have the case and APD’s Victim Services Unit is working to support the family.
Police say Lee has targeted immigrant and refugee families before, and past local news stories show he has previous convictions for similar acts.
According to Westword, Lee was arrested for investigation of sexual assault on a child who was in elementary school in 2010.
In November 2014, Lee was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for that arrest. He sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl whose parents were Vietnamese immigrants after claiming to be an immigration facility doctor. He also pleaded guilty to other counts related to other attacks on Vietnamese girls and women during the mid-‘90s and received an additional to a concurrent 10-year prison term, Reuters reported.
Denver police tweeted a sexually violent predator alert in August 2020, saying Lee was living in the North Capitol Hill neighborhood.
ALERT: KENNETH DEAN LEE is a sexually violent predator and is living at 1642 N. Ogden Street, #9 in the North Capitol Hill neighborhood of #Denver. For more info about the neighborhood in which Lee will be residing, visit: https://t.co/WA3XiwzW0D. pic.twitter.com/X3LK7ilSIM
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) August 26, 2020
Aurora police said Tuesday that anyone who wishes to report a crime involving lee should call 303-627-3100.
“It is believed that Lee has specifically targeted immigrant and refugee families to perpetrate his alleged crimes,” APD wrote in a news release. “The Aurora Police Department wants residents to know that anybody in the City of Aurora, regardless of their immigration status, should feel safe reporting crimes and reported allegations will be taken seriously.”
Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney John Kellner, whose office prosecuted the case, released a statement saying he was "incredibly frustrated" Lee was released years early and "given an opportunity to offend again."
"I think we deserve answers from the Department of Corrections, the Parole Board and the Sex Offender Management Board. I want to know how a convicted sex offender who was found to be a sexually violent predator by the judge was released so early and apparently without adequate monitoring," the statement says, in part. "These victims and their families, and every parent deserve to know what DOC and the Parole Board are doing to prevent something like this from happening in the future."
