COLORADO SPRINGS – He’s been a Colorado Springs firefighter for more than 30 years, but following his arrest for sexual exploitation of a child Wednesday, neighbors said they’re stunned Robert Stambaugh allegedly committed those crimes.
Following a tip from Homeland Security, Colorado Springs Police arrested Stambaugh after securing a search warrant for his home. They found a tablet inside his garage that had two videos of young girls having sexual intercourse with unknown adult males, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by News 5.
Stambaugh was charged with sexual exploitation of a child (a Class 3 felony) and possessing video of that sexual exploitation (a Class 4 felony).
Neighbors told News 5’s Sam Kraemer they were in shock after hearing the news.
“To me, he was very professional, because he was the fire chief around here and stuff like that. And you could ask him any question, he would help you and give you his advice and stuff like that. So, to me, he was a good guy,” said Janet Murray.
Murray has lived across the street from Stambaugh for a decade, so you can imagine her reaction when learning the details of the arrest.
“It’s shocking, and it’s almost like it’s hard to believe, you know, because I had a sense of respect for him,” Murray said. “It’s just like everybody has a facade. You know, we let people know the person we want them to know. And you know, that’s just how it is.”
Stambaugh is being held at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center without bond.
For more details leading up to Stambaugh’s arrest, read our previous story here.
WARNING: The affidavit contains extremely graphic content that is very disturbing and contains portions of explicit online messages as part of the investigation.
