Conservatory board member accused of assaulting girl
A board member of Colorado Springs Conservatory, a preparatory school for young performing artists, has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child.
Jason O. Gaulden, 31, is accused of inappropriately touching his then-girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter, an arrest affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Gaulden, a father of three, knew the girl for two months before he began calling and texting her. Soon, their conversations allegedly turned inappropriate. He asked if her friends were sexually active. He asked if she was sexually active. Then, the affidavit said, he asked if she wanted to have sex.
On Jan. 10, Gaulden showed up at the girl's house with his children for her to baby-sit, the affidavit said. He allegedly called the girl into her mother's bedroom, where he grabbed, attempted to kiss, slapped and inappropriately touched her. Then, the affidavit said, Gaulden told the girl she couldn't tell anyone what he did because it would ruin him.
The girl's mother later confronted Gaulden and recorded him acknowledging that he urged her daughter to talk about sex and that he touched her inappropriately. The affidavit details the conversation. The woman had a .380-caliber handgun tucked under her arm at the time.
"I didn't, like, initiate, tactically plot," he said. "It wasn't predatory, or anything like that, but at some point ... it was clear that she was having, you know, those natural teenager inclinations, curious about sex."
"I started a face-to-face conversation with her about those things, and I'm ashamed and I'm sorry," he said on the tape. "I am scared, and I hate myself right now."
Gaulden was arrested Tuesday and taken to the El Paso County jail. He was released that afternoon after posting $25,000 bail. He didn't respond to a telephone call seeking comment.
Linda Weise, executive director of Colorado Springs Conservatory, said as a board member, Gaulden was never alone with children. The allegations will be discussed at the school's board meeting today.
"I'm in utter disbelief about the situation," Weise said. "There isn't a more sincere advocate for education than Jason Gaulden."
Gaulden, who grew up in Compton, Calif., and graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, told The Gazette in 2001 he was going to fight the urban poverty surrounding him - and he was going to fight becoming a statistic.
"I remember sitting in my third-grade class at John Adams, (Elementary School)" Gaulden said, "after an assembly, or something, thinking, ‘One day, I'll go to college. One day, I'm going to do something to help people. One day, I'm going to do something great.'"
Last month, Gaulden left his position as education program officer for The Daniels Fund.
Previously, he was the youth-development director at the Urban League of the Pikes Peak Region.
