Former teacher and Boy Scout leader from Northern Colorado sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for raping boys

A former middle school teacher and Boy Scout leader will spend the next 16 years in prison after admitting to sexually abusing several children in his past. Robert Denise, a retired teacher from the Poudre School District, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a child and was sentenced to prison by the Colorado Department of Corrections Thursday afternoon.

Denise worked for many years at Cache La Poudre Middle School, which is part of the PSD. Decades ago, he also worked at the Ben Delatour Boy Scout Camp. At both locations, he targeted teenagers – crimes to which he admitted.

“Robert Denise was a predator,” said Bobby Moll, a captain with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

According to investigators, Denise spent 17 years sexually assaulting and raping teenage boys, most of whom he knew from his time as a teacher. The crimes all took place in the early 2000s.

“This case is over 20 years old,” Moll told Dillon Thomas of CBS News Colorado.

Investigators first learned of Denise’s crimes when a Fort Collins man came forward and said he was a victim of Denise’s abuse decades ago. After releasing some information from their investigation, the LCSO said at least four more victims came forward and also said they were sexually abused by Denise as children.

CBS News Colorado has pledged not to release the names of the victims in this case due to the nature of the crimes and the ages of the men who were there at the time of the attack.

“These five victims who came forward were super brave and did the right thing,” Moll said.

In Larimer County Court, Denise’s victims told how he abused them and changed their lives. Many of the details described were very graphic.

Some victims recalled Denise dragging them into the CLP Middle School library and touching their genitals. Others recalled Denise cuddling them and rubbing their bodies in tents at Ben Delatour Scout Camp.

Some victims said Denise raped them in a shower at his home after telling them they had to do yard work for him to avoid punishment for misbehavior at school. Others said Denise forced them to have sex with him in tents during a Boy Scout trip.

For some, the sexual abuse lasted weeks or months. But the psychological abuse lasted decades.

Moll said the men who told their stories may have been re-traumatized by revealing their past, but did so in the hope that Denise would be held accountable.

“We call it re-victimization because they have to relive what happened,” Moll said.

As Dillon Thomas of CBS News Colorado first reported on Denise’s arrest In 2023, some former students sent emails to Thomas claiming the reports were false and not possible.

Denise confessed to his crimes.

However, his defense brought to his sentencing a plastic container filled with letters that students and parents had written to him over the years to thank him for his services as an educator.

Some of Denise’s former students and colleagues also testified on his behalf, saying he was an outstanding person and a trustworthy teacher.

The judge later said he could not see how Denise’s positive influence on some children outweighed the rape of several others.

The judge sentenced Denise to multiple 16-year terms in the Department of Corrections, to be served concurrently. 16 years was the maximum sentence Denise could receive as part of a plea deal. He must also register as a sex offender.

There is no statute of limitations in Colorado when it comes to sexual abuse of a child. Moll said investigators still have credible evidence of Denise’s guilt, even decades later, before he admitted to his crimes.

Denise addressed the court and said he had taken the blame for his actions on several occasions. He also apologized to the victims and said they should not feel guilty for what happened. He had taken all the blame on himself.

Some victims said they had problems with drug and alcohol abuse since the attacks, and all said they now felt insecure about intimacy.

Most of the victims in the room stood and watched as Denise was handcuffed and taken into custody to serve his sentence.

In an interview with Thomas after the verdict, one victim expressed frustration that the PSD allowed Denise to retire despite learning about the crimes she was accused of. Thomas’ interview with this victim will be broadcast and published in the next few days.

CBS News Colorado has reached out to PSD and the Boy Scouts for an interview or comment on this report. The Boy Scouts have not yet responded and a PSD spokesperson said they would issue a statement to their community on Friday.

Moll said the men who came forward were brave and could be proud of themselves for accomplishing things that many others find difficult.

“95 percent of male victims do not report the crime,” Moll said.

Moll said he had no physical evidence that Denise abused anyone other than the five men who came forward in the case. However, he said he personally believes there are other victims. The judge also mentioned the possibility that there were other victims, but the court could not include that in the verdict without evidence.

“It’s sad, but you know this is probably not an isolated case,” Moll said. “I believe there are other victims out there who have chosen not to disclose.”