GOLDEN, CO — An employee of the Colorado Springs branch of the ultra-conservative religious organization Focus on the Family was arrested April 3rd when he arrived at a pre-arranged meeting hoping to have sex with a minor.According to court documents, Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, thought he was corresponding online with a 15-year-old girl. Instead, undercover officers with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office had trapped him in a child-porn sting.
Ovalle was arrested when he arrived at an undisclosed location in Lakewood, CO, to meet the “girl.” He appeared in arraignment court Monday morning and is expected to be charged Thursday with felony counts including criminal attempted sexual assault on a child and luring a child via the internet.
On Tuesday, Ovalle continued to be held in the Jefferson County, CO, Detention Center pending bond of $25,000.
According to KRDO-TV, Colorado Springs’ News Channel 13, “Between April 2 and April 3 Ovalle is alleged to have made sexually graphic statements in a chat room to a person he believed to be an underage teen. According to court documents Ovalle also told the teen about the sexual things that he wanted to do to her and ultimately drove from Colorado Springs on April 3 to meet her with the intention of having sexual contact.”
Ovalle worked in Focus on the Family’s Colorado Springs office as a Spanish-language narrator for Bible CDs. He also served the organization’s Trans World Radio Ministry after founding Spanish Christian Audio in 2001.
Focus on the Family was influential during the administration of President George W. Bush; its founder, Dr. James Dobson, frequently consulted with the president about how to rally Christian supporters.
“We are all shocked to hear of these allegations and just beginning to look into them,” Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger told KRDO-TV on Monday.
