DENVER (KDVR) — A convicted sex offender in Arapahoe County with active warrants for child prostitution, sex assault on a child and several other charges, was finally caught in Mexico after being on the run for eight years.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday that David Anthony Jaramillo, 38, is now in custody at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility after he pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and didn’t appear for his scheduled sentencing hearing on Aug. 14, 2017.
Jaramillo’s conviction came after the sheriff’s office said he was messaging an undercover Denver police officer, whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, in 2016. After initiating the conversation on MeetMe.com, a social media platform, Jaramillo said he was 21 years old and “looking for someone to travel with and engage in sexual intercourse.”
The sheriff’s office said after continuous messaging, Jaramillo drove to a fast-food restaurant in Aurora to meet the girl, only to be arrested by officers with the Aurora Police Department and members of the FBI Innocence Lost Task Force.
Jaramillo pleaded guilty in 2017 but was a fugitive after not showing up to his sentencing. The sheriff’s office said he also had active warrants in Weld County for felony menacing, assault and child abuse, as well as in Jefferson County for child prostitution, sex assault on a child and internet luring of a child.
Jaramillo had been on the run for eight years until the case was reopened. After three months of investigations by the FBI and a sheriff’s office task force officer, he was apprehended in Leon, Mexico, on Aug. 23.
The sheriff’s office said that investigators believe he was likely in Mexico since 2022. The FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force captured Jaramillo in Mexico, and he was escorted to Texas before the sheriff’s office extradition team brought him to Denver on Sept. 8.
“This case shows that no matter how long you run, you can’t hide forever,” said District Attorney Amy Padden. “I commend Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown and his team, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for their persistence and determination to bring this child predator back to face the consequences of his actions.”
Jaramillo was arrested with the help of the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, FBI agents in Mexico and Mexican law enforcement, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said Jaramillo is now waiting to be sentenced for his crimes in Arapahoe and to be prosecuted for cases in Jefferson and Weld counties.
