A man who identified himself as an agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up at the home of an immigrant family in Aurora, Colorado, this month and demanded to speak with the couple’s 7-year-old daughter.
Before the family could notice that the supposed federal agent was wearing an ankle monitor, the man strong-armed his way into the home and took the little girl into a bedroom alone—where police say he sexually assaulted her.
The man was no ICE agent, but a serial sex offender with a horrifying track record of impersonating officials to prey on children in immigrant and refugee families, police said. Kenneth Dean Lee, 65, was on parole for earlier sex crimes when he showed up at the family’s door, according to The Denver Post, which cited an affidavit.
Lee is said to have known the little girl’s name when he arrived at the family’s apartment, insisting to her parents that he was there to speak with her in his capacity as an immigration official.
“During the course of the investigation, it was learned that Lee has a disturbing criminal history with a pattern of similar allegations. It is believed that Lee has specifically targeted immigrant and refugee families to perpetrate his alleged crimes,” the Aurora Police Department said in a press release.
Lee was apprehended on Dec. 10 and charged with sexual assault on a child and first-degree burglary. No further details were immediately available on the victim and her family, but police said their Victim Services Unit was in touch with them to “offer support and help them work through this difficult event.”
While the community has been left reeling over the devastating attack on a 7-year-old girl, many are questioning why Lee was out on the streets in the first place. He was previously convicted of sexual-assault charges after posing as a doctor to target a Vietnamese child in 2010.
In that case, he repeatedly called the parents of the 9-year-old girl and told them he was a doctor working for an immigration facility and that he needed to carry out an exam. He then showed up at the home posing as a doctor and, similarly to the latest alleged assault, sexually assaulted the girl in a bedroom before fleeing.
In 2014, he was sentenced to 23 years to life for the 2010 assault, and he got an additional 10 years after a string of attacks dating back to 1996 came to light, resulting in two more sexual-assault convictions.
Somehow, however, he was paroled in 2020—a fact which came as a shock to the prosecutors who put him behind bars.
“In 2014, my office prosecuted a man for sexually assaulting children while he disguised himself as an immigration official.… Now in 2021, that same man is charged with sexually assaulting another little girl after he was paroled early in April 2020,” District Attorney John Kellner said in a statement late Tuesday.
“I am incredibly frustrated that a person convicted of sexually violent crimes was released years early and given an opportunity to offend again. I am sure I am not the only one wondering how this could happen,” he wrote.
Both the Aurora police and Kellner said they feared Lee may have more victims out there who have been afraid to come forward.
“In the past, this defendant targeted immigrants, thinking they wouldn’t report his crimes. I want to encourage anyone with information about this crime, and any others who might have been victimized, regardless of immigration status, to please come forward and contact the Aurora Police Department,” the district attorney said.