Oct 30, 2009 8:13 am US/Mountain
Therapist Charged With Supplying Sex To Inmates
Inmates Say They Had Sex With Therapist's Partner
Suspect Calls Accusations 'B.S.'
Written by Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
-
-
Cesar Corzo talks with CBS4 investigator Brian Maass.
CBS
-
-
Laura Perzinski during an interview with CBS4 investigator Brian Maass.
CBS
A licensed Colorado therapist and his girlfriend are facing criminal charges for allegedly smuggling the woman into a Colorado youth prison to have sex with two teenage inmates.
Both the 48-year-old therapist, Cesar Corzo, and his 28-year-old girlfriend, Laura Perzinski, say the accusations are false.
"They are 100 percent lying," Corzo told CBS4 in an exclusive interview that aired Thursday night.
"That's a complete lie," said Perzinski of the accusations that she went to Ridge View Academy in Watkins on several occasions and had sexual intercourse with the youth offenders.
"I'm completely innocent," said Perzinski.
She is facing one misdemeanor count of sexual assault on a minor. Corzo has been charged with seven felonies, ranging from an obscenity charge, to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sex in a penal institution. He is also accused of providing hallucinogenic drugs to offenders, allowing them to view pornographic materials on his computer and showing pornography during group therapy sessions. Asked how much of the case against him is true, Corzo said "none."
Corzo was the lead therapist at Ridge View Academy in 2008. Ridge View is a state prison for young men between the ages of 15 and 21 years old. It is operated by a private contractor, Rite of Passage. Approximately 400 young men are incarcerated at Ridge View.
After hearing rumors about Corzo, the facility investigated and then fired him in December, 2008. Ridge View's director, Bill Wood, said the facility then reported the allegations to proper authorities.
"If these allegations are true, the kids were victimized," Wood said.
But Wood said he's not sure precisely what happened.
"It could happen. I would never tell you it's impossible," he said.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department investigated and presented their findings to the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office. In March of this year, the district attorney's office charged Corzo with multiple felonies. Perzinski was initially charged with two felonies which were later re-filed as a single misdemeanor sexual assault count.
According to affidavits filed in the case, Corzo provided teenage inmates with ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana on 25 occasions. Several offenders say Corzo showed them pornographic videos on his computer and during group therapy sessions. They say one of the videos he showed them was called "Barnyard Babes."
But by far the most stunning accusation, repeated by two teen offenders, is that Corzo brought his girlfriend to the facility and that she had sexual intercourse in his office, on a couch, with two inmates, on three different occasions.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson agreed that when he first learned of the case, the allegations sounded far-fetched.
"On the front end it didn't ring true to me," he said.
But Robinson said the case has been thoroughly investigated, charges accepted by prosecutors and a judge signed search warrant affidavits in the case .
"I believe everything that's in the affidavit," said Robinson, including the allegations that Laura Perzinski had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old offender and a 19-year-old inmate. "That was in the affidavit and I believe what was in the affidavit."
But Perzinski provided CBS4 with a different version of events. She acknowledged she visited her married boyfriend, Corzo, about 15 times at Ridge View in 2008. But she said she only went to the campus to run, bike and workout with Corzo. She said she was never alone with any of the students accusing her of sexual acts.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I never met these students and couldn't recognize them. And I will take it to trial. I won't plead guilty to a misdemeanor when I didn't do anything wrong," she said.
Perzinski points out that the 16-year-old who said he had sex with Perzinski in Cesar Corzo's office was later shown a photo lineup by an investigator. Although he said he had been with Perzinski for 45 minutes, he was unable to pick her picture out of the lineup.
"I think he would know after 45 minutes," Perzinski said.
She also took a polygraph exam on March 18, administered by Charles Marshall, a certified polygraph examiner who administers lie detector tests for various Colorado government agencies. During the polygraph Marshall asked Perzinski three questions relating to whether or not she had sexual contact with inmates at Ridge View. She said she did not.
"It is this examiner's professional opinion that Ms. Perzinski was truthful ... ," Marshall said in a written statement.
Perzinski told CBS4, "I took the polygraph because I knew it would prove this whole thing was a lie. And the polygraph came back that I passed it meaning everything those kids said; none of it was true."
The polygraph results were presented to the District Attorney's Office. A spokesperson said she would not comment on the case.
"It's completely unfair; it's ruining my reputation and my life," said Perzinski.
As for Corzo, he too says the charges against him are bogus, made up by offenders angry at being expelled from his group therapy sessions and trying to cooperate with investigators and get their sentences reduced.
Both Corzo and Perzinski are pleading not guilty. Corzo is scheduled to go on trial in Arapahoe County next February.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Tribal Leaders Bless Census SUV
Slideshow: Colorado's Weirdest Crime
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments