Colorado Springs man arrested for sexual exploitation of a child, again.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A Colorado Springs man with a long history of committing crimes against children was arrested by police Thursday.
64-year-old registered sex offender James Wofford was arrested after investigators with the Colorado Springs Police Department and Special Agents with the Department of Homeland Security executed a search warrant at his home on the 400 block of South Hancock Avenue.
In September, the CSPD Internet Crimes Against Children unit started an investigation into the distribution of child sexual abuse material by Wofford. The team received multiple reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that Wofford was uploading a number of child sexual abuse material files online.
“With that warrant, they recovered sexually explicit material and determined that he had sexually exploited a child,” Robert Tornabene with the Colorado Springs Police Department told 13 Investigates. “If they were able to get a warrant for his residence and his computer, they obviously had information that pointed them in that direction in order to get the warrant.”
Wofford is currently facing a single charge of sexual exploitation of a child following his arrest. His first appearance in front of a judge is scheduled for Friday.
Wofford possesses four previous convictions related to child sex crimes, two within El Paso County.
In 1989, Wofford was found guilty of molesting a child outside the state of Colorado. Then in 1997 a jury in El Paso County found Wofford guilty of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and sentenced him to 13 years in the Department of Corrections.
Wofford was arrested yet again in El Paso County back in 2013. This time a jury found him guilty of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing more than 20 items of sexually exploitative material. Wofford was sentenced to 6 years in the Department of Corrections.
"I can't tell you what the outcome is going to occur in court," Tornabene said. "Obviously, this is a person that preys on young people. I think that there's the potential for (prior convictions) to have some kind of influence (on sentencing), being a registered sex offender and then continuing to offend, that's got to be an aggravating factor for his charges and potential conviction."
During a court hearing to set Wofford's bond, prosecutors described the registered sex offender as "a serious safety concern for the community."
The state requested the judge to keep Wofford in jail without bond.
The judge eventually set Wofford's bond at $25,000 and ordered him not to contact anyone under 18.
Wofford's next court appearance is scheduled for Dec 27.
