Sex sting nabs campus cop

A campus officer at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs - hired months after his ouster as Calhan police chief and despite a child abuse conviction - was arrested Wednesday in an Internet sex sting in Penrose.

Todd Vecellio, 38, of Colorado Springs was taken into custody outside a liquor store in Penrose where, according to Cañon City police, he stopped for beer before heading to what he believed was a tryst with a woman and her 13-year-old daughter.

In reality, police say, Vecellio arranged the meeting with an undercover Cañon City police officer in a series of Internet messages and phone calls that began in mid-August.

He was arrested on suspicion of trying to commit three sex offenses, including sexual assault on a child, a felony.

Vecellio told officers he was investigating the woman, but police say there is no evidence to support the claim.

Wednesday afternoon was not Vecellio's first brush with the law, court records show.

In 1997, Vecellio pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of child abuse and received a one-year deferred sentence. The conviction was wiped from his record after he met all court-ordered requirements.

A police ticket indicates he slapped a child's buttocks with enough force to leave finger marks. It does not say if he was related to the child.

Vecellio was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in 1997 and 2005, but the misdemeanors were dismissed, records show. He also received a speeding ticket that was dismissed in June 2008.

Vecellio was certified to work as a police officer in Colorado in 1994 after attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich., and Pikes Peak Community College.

He worked as a police officer in South Fork and as a jailer in the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office before he was chosen to be the chief of Calhan's two-person department from February 2000 to August 2002, records show.

In 2002, Vecellio said he was fired unfairly for insubordination.

He was hired as a UCCS officer in 2003 after passing a background check that included nationwide criminal checks and a psychological evaluation, UCCS spokesman Tom Hutton said.

Their security measures failed to turn up details of the child abuse conviction, which could have been learned from a $6 check of the state court system's online database.

Hutton said the university was "not privy to the details" of Vecellio's ouster from the Calhan Police Department, although the application lists the Calhan mayor as a job reference.

The university does not believe Vecellio had inappropriate contact with anyone on the campus, which includes a day care center.

According to an arrest affidavit, a police scanner could be heard during one of the undercover officer's phone conversations with Vecellio, leading her to believe the suspect was on duty.

Vecellio was booked into Fremont County jail on a $50,000 bond. He is being held on suspicion of attempting three felonies: criminal solicitation, sexual assault on a child and sexual exploitation of a child. Police also plan to pursue a misdemeanor count of attempt to commit unlawful sexual contact, court documents said.

Vecellio began exchanging messages with the undercover officer Aug. 19, records said.
He requested a picture of the woman's daughter and sent a lewd photo of himself via his cell phone, the documents said.

He sought repeated assurances the woman was not a police officer before agreeing to meet with her and her daughter so that the three could have sex, police allege.

"I asked if he had ever been with a girl my daughter's age before," the officer wrote. "He told me he was with a 15-year-old once."

The investigation was conducted by the Fremont County Combined Investigative Response team, comprising Cañon City police, the Fremont County Sheriff's Department, Florence police and the 11th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Vecellio is on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the case.