A 25-year-old man was arrested in Jefferson County last week on suspicion of charges related to child prostitution and exploitation, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Christopher Taylor, 25, is being held on charges of soliciting child prostitution, patronizing a prostituted child, sexual exploitation of a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and resisting arrest.
The investigation began when two girls — who are 15 and 16 — came forward to the sheriff’s office in November 2023 and admitted to meeting up with Taylor for sexual acts in exchange for money, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Friday.
Taylor added the two girls on Snapchat and had been messaging back and forth with them for more than a month, according to an arrest affidavit.
During the investigation, which is ongoing, deputies found evidence that Taylor was communicating with numerous underage girls on his social media accounts, the sheriff’s office stated Friday.
He offered to pay both girls who came forward $700 for oral sex and had sent out an offer to pay “cash, weed, nic or alc for head” to at least 24 other minor Snapchat users, the affidavit stated.
Taylor never paid the girls the money he had promised, and unadded them on Snapchat so they had no way to contact him, according to the affidavit.
Sheriff’s deputies obtained a search warrant for subscriber information and IP addresses from Comcast on Feb. 5, which deputies used to track Taylor to several locations where he sent messages from — including his home and outside the Aurora Recreation Center.
On Feb. 9, the deputy in charge of the investigation had one of the girls record a video confronting Taylor about not paying her, the affidavit stated. The deputy sent Taylor the video from an undercover phone with no ties to either victim and continued the conversation while pretending to be the girl.
When Taylor responded, the two set up a late-night meeting to drop off the money, according to the affidavit. Little did Taylor know that a team of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators would be waiting for him when he drove down the alley.
A video posted by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, shows two deputies arresting Taylor in front of his car last week.
The deputies were part of the sheriff office’s Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations Unit, also known as the CHEEZO Unit — a team dedicated to catching predators who try to lure children online.
Taylor tried multiple times to resist arrest and had to be placed in leg shackles, the arrest affidavit stated.
When investigators searched the car, they found several $100 bills, a camera and a pair of fuzzy lined handcuffs, according to the affidavit.
Taylor was arrested based on his interactions with the two girls that came forward, not with any of the other girls he allegedly spoke to online, according to Friday’s statement. He was booked into the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility.
If parents have any questions or concerns about their child being approached online or if they want more information about safe internet practices, they can contact the unit at CHEEZO@jeffco.us or through the department’s online form.
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