'StandUp For Kids' Founder Charged with Child Sex Assault - East Idaho News
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‘StandUp For Kids’ Founder Charged with Child Sex Assault

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Getty 080112 SexualAssault?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1347999226063Photodisc/Thinkstock(DENVER) — The founder of a national charity for at-risk youth has been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a child over a three-year period.

Richard Koca, Sr., 69, was charged in Aurora, Colo., last week in connection with the child sexual assault case, according to ABC News station KMGH.

Court documents state that Koca faces seven felony charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust that began in August 2009 and continued until August 2012. The document describes his behavior as a “pattern of abuse,” according to KMGH.

The charges against Koca were “suppressed,” or sealed, by court order on Monday after KMGH’s report. The Arapahoe County district attorney would not comment on the charges.

The Aurora police department told KMGH that investigators are preparing for the possibility that more potential victims could come forward in the case.

Koca, who lives in Aurora, founded the national non-profit StandUp For Kids, which aims to help homeless youth around the country. The organization’s website is no longer accessible online, and calls to the headquarters went unreturned.

An old version of the organization’s website included a message from Koca, who founded the organization in 1990. In the message, Koca condemns child abuse and outlines the mission of the organization, which is to offer resources to homeless youth.

The organization told KMGH Monday that it did not have “sufficient information at this time to make a statement.”

Calls to the organization’s board chairman Trevor K. Ross, an Atlanta-based attorney, also were not returned.

Koca is being held in Arapahoe County jail on $250,000 bond until his next court appearance, on Sept. 21, at 10:30 a.m. He is being represented by the public defender’s office, which did not return ABC News’ calls for comment.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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