COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado Springs man is accused of sexually assaulting three children under the age of 10, and police are seeking other potential victims.
Click here for more on the case of Terry Simerly and why police are seeking other potential victims.
While the case for Simerly remains under investigation and he is innocent until proven guilty, the allegations shine a light on a resource in Colorado not everyone may know about. If you suspect child abuse or neglect in Colorado you can call 8-44-CO-4Kids 24/7. The hotline is part of a program for the Colorado Department of Human Services’ (CDHS) statewide initiative to provide awareness about Colorado’s child welfare system. It focuses on educating the public about the signs of child abuse and neglect, while raising awareness about the hotline.
"It is critical for every single one of us across the state to help prevent child abuse and neglect," Minna Castillo the deputy executive director of Community Partnerships with CDHS explained. "We each play a role in this as our friends, our neighbors, our family members, really keeping our kids safe. So the hotline is a key and critical part of that."
News5 put in a records request with the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) to see how many child sex abuse cases they have handled in the past two years. According to a CSPD spokesperson, the case count for child sex crime reports was 470 in 2023, and 449 in 2024 in the latest available data. Child sex crime reports include any sex offense where the victim is a child and can include forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sex assault with an object and fondling. There may be more 2024 reports still processing, but on average CSPD had about 39 child sex crime reports each month in 2023 and about 37.5 each month in 2024. Each case could have more than one victim, so the number of cases does not reflect the number of potential victims.
Given the number of cases in just one city, Castillo wants the public to be aware that simply calling the hotline doesn't mean that any child welfare involvement actually occurs.
"It just allows us to hear what those concerns are, and again, let those experts who are on the other line make that determination whether or not they need to go out and see that young person and determine that level of safety," Castillo added. "Of course, the other concern is, is if you see a child in immediate danger that you call 911."
While recent data wasn't available, the Child Abuse and Neglect hotline received 208,949 calls in 2021. In 2019 prior to the pandemic, the hotline received 219,478 calls.
"We really work to try and bust that myth that a call to the hotline leads to automatic child welfare involvement," Castillo said. "That is not the case really. Again, those call takers hear that information and make that determination about what next steps need to take place. It is always important that we report any sort of child abuse or neglect concerns to the hotline so that we can go out and act on that."
Click here for more on CO4Kids. You can learn what signs to look out for when it comes to child sexual abuse, emotional abuse, institutional abuse, physical abuse and trafficking.
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