A Clifton woman has been arrested after she allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting two children — one of whom is disabled — and broadcasting the acts on the Internet.
Debra Marie Slaughenhaupt, 49, 424 Road 32, No. 351, was arrested at her home Tuesday and booked into the Mesa County Jail for investigation of 14 felony counts, including five counts of sexual assault on a child, two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of procurement of a child for sexual exploitation and five counts of child abuse. She is being held on $100,000 bond.
Slaughenhaupt’s arrest came after the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department on Monday concerning an Internet child pornography case in Toronto, Canada. An ICE agent told sheriff’s
investigators that hundreds of child pornography images had been found on a man’s computer and agents were trying to identify the victims, according to an arrest affidavit.
Sheriff’s investigators learned one of the people contacted by the man, 26-year-old
Matthew Hughes of Toronto, was someone using the screen name “shortstockdeb57.” That person was later identified as Slaughenhaupt, the affidavit said.
Investigators reviewed 62 pages of Internet chat text sent between April 29, 2006, and Dec. 1, 2006, in which Hughes asked Slaughenhaupt to have the children, ages 9 and 3, perform sexual acts on her and send the images via a Web camera, the affidavit said.
In one Web conversation, Slaughenhaupt wrote to Hughes, “I love havd (sic) fun with her,” referring to the 3-year-old. Slaughenhaupt and Hughes engaged in several sexually
explicit conversations about the sex acts involving the children, the affidavit said.
On Tuesday, investigators went to Slaughenhaupt’s house and found Slaughenhaupt, her daughter, and five children between the ages of 3 and 12, including the two girls who were allegedly molested. Investigators found and seized two computers, including one with a Web camera attached to it in a bedroom. Investigators also found feces and molded food inside the house, the affidavit said.
None of the five children indicated in interviews that they had been molested, although the four oldest children said they had viewed pornography on the computer while Slaughenhaupt and her husband were in the room, the affidavit said.
During an interview at the Sheriff’s Department, Slaughenhaupt admitted to meeting several men on the Internet and having Web camera sex with them. When asked about the sex acts with the two girls, she did not immediately answer. After an investigator read the chat text between Hughes and Slaughenhaupt to her, Slaughenhaupt admitted molesting the girls while on the live Web camera, the affidavit said.
“It’s shocking,” Mesa County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Norma Mestas said Wednesday of the allegations against Slaughenhaupt. “I’m sure it’s shocking to the community to know this could be happening where they live.”
A subdued Slaughenhaupt made her first court appearance Wednesday to be advised of the charges that could be filed against her. She responded, “I guess,” when asked if she wanted a public defender to represent her.
Slaughenhaupt has no criminal record in Colorado, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. Prosecutors are expected to file charges against her on March 22.
Mike Wiggins can be reached at mwiggins@gjds.com.
Debra Marie Slaughenhaupt, 49, 424 Road 32, No. 351, was arrested at her home Tuesday and booked into the Mesa County Jail for investigation of 14 felony counts, including five counts of sexual assault on a child, two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of procurement of a child for sexual exploitation and five counts of child abuse. She is being held on $100,000 bond.
Slaughenhaupt’s arrest came after the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department on Monday concerning an Internet child pornography case in Toronto, Canada. An ICE agent told sheriff’s
investigators that hundreds of child pornography images had been found on a man’s computer and agents were trying to identify the victims, according to an arrest affidavit.
Sheriff’s investigators learned one of the people contacted by the man, 26-year-old
Matthew Hughes of Toronto, was someone using the screen name “shortstockdeb57.” That person was later identified as Slaughenhaupt, the affidavit said.
Investigators reviewed 62 pages of Internet chat text sent between April 29, 2006, and Dec. 1, 2006, in which Hughes asked Slaughenhaupt to have the children, ages 9 and 3, perform sexual acts on her and send the images via a Web camera, the affidavit said.
In one Web conversation, Slaughenhaupt wrote to Hughes, “I love havd (sic) fun with her,” referring to the 3-year-old. Slaughenhaupt and Hughes engaged in several sexually
explicit conversations about the sex acts involving the children, the affidavit said.
On Tuesday, investigators went to Slaughenhaupt’s house and found Slaughenhaupt, her daughter, and five children between the ages of 3 and 12, including the two girls who were allegedly molested. Investigators found and seized two computers, including one with a Web camera attached to it in a bedroom. Investigators also found feces and molded food inside the house, the affidavit said.
None of the five children indicated in interviews that they had been molested, although the four oldest children said they had viewed pornography on the computer while Slaughenhaupt and her husband were in the room, the affidavit said.
During an interview at the Sheriff’s Department, Slaughenhaupt admitted to meeting several men on the Internet and having Web camera sex with them. When asked about the sex acts with the two girls, she did not immediately answer. After an investigator read the chat text between Hughes and Slaughenhaupt to her, Slaughenhaupt admitted molesting the girls while on the live Web camera, the affidavit said.
“It’s shocking,” Mesa County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Norma Mestas said Wednesday of the allegations against Slaughenhaupt. “I’m sure it’s shocking to the community to know this could be happening where they live.”
A subdued Slaughenhaupt made her first court appearance Wednesday to be advised of the charges that could be filed against her. She responded, “I guess,” when asked if she wanted a public defender to represent her.
Slaughenhaupt has no criminal record in Colorado, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. Prosecutors are expected to file charges against her on March 22.
Mike Wiggins can be reached at mwiggins@gjds.com.
