Attorney claims there is a 'startling' pattern of child sex crimes connected to Aurora Police

AURORA — A Colorado attorney claims he sees a pattern of concerning crimes connected to individuals who have been employed with the Aurora Police Department (APD).

While those with APD said they do not tolerate officer misconduct at any level, Matthew Haltzman has questions about a number of cases he came across while working on a lawsuit related to a former school resource officer.

"These are overlapping patterns that do not exist in other police departments," Haltzman said.

The civil lawsuit claims a former Aurora school resource officer (SRO) was "grooming" a high school student by engaging in "explicit and inappropriate sexual conversations" via text.

The lawsuit names Egide “DJ” Ndagije and the Aurora Police Department as defendants. Denver7 is not naming the plaintiff in this case, since they were a minor at the time.

Ndagije was employed at Aurora Central High School when a 16-year-old student reached out to him for help in October 2023, according to the filing. The lawsuit claims Aurora PD "failed to properly vet, train, and supervise" Ndagije, who was 25 years old at the time.

Within the lawsuit are pictures of text messages allegedly exchanged between the plaintiff and Ndagije.

Ndagije was charged with first-degree official misconduct in March 2024. He pleaded guilty to the charge at the beginning of 2025, according to court records.

The teenager allegedly showed the messages to her mother in October 2023. Her mother called APD, and an Internal Affairs Investigation was launched, according to the filing.

The internal investigation revealed Ndagije allegedly took photographs of the 16-year-old's backside without her knowledge or consent, and "shared these photographs with others."

Previously, a spokesperson with Aurora PD told Denver7 they do not comment on pending litigation. However, if Ndagije did not resign during the active internal investigation, he would have been fired from the department.

APD also made the necessary notifications to POST that ultimately led to Ndagije losing his certification.

While researching the case, Haltzman compiled a timeline he believes shows a "startling and upsetting" pattern within APD.

"I often make the analogy: if this were a school district where there were five teachers that had been convicted or charged with sexual exploitation crimes, the community would be up in arms," Haltzman said.

The first case Haltzman noted is from 2010, when our partners at The Denver Post reported an Aurora police sergeant was arrested on suspicion of possession and distribution of child pornography. Court records show Morgan Sellman pleaded guilty to child sexual exploitation in 2012.

Then, Haltzman pointed at a case from 2011 when The Denver Post documented charges of sexual exploitation of a child related to an Aurora police officer and a 15-year-old runaway. Michael Mangino took a plea deal in 2012.

In 2024, allegations that a retired APD sergeant sexually and physically abused children came to light. According to our partners at The Denver Post, Michael Hawkins denied the accusations through his attorney. The alleged abuse is not believed to be connected to Hawkins when he was on-duty with APD. That case is still pending.

Then, in 2025, the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force arrested an Aurora police sergeant who served as a school resource officer supervisor. Sergeant Aaron Bunch, 47, was arrested on charges "related to the online sexual exploitation of a child," and those charges involve "the electronic exchange of child exploitation material via the internet," according to the Aurora Police Department.

The FBI believes Bunch could have sought minor victims between 2005 to 2025.

"Aurora Police Department is absolutely an outlier. This is not a normal thing for police departments to be having to go through," Haltzman said.

Denver7 reached out to APD about these claims from Haltzman. A spokesperson sent over the following statement:

As soon as the Aurora Police Department becomes aware of an officer’s misconduct, they are immediately removed from operational duty and an internal investigation is launched that ultimately results in their separation from the agency. The Aurora Police Department does not tolerate officer misconduct at any level. We hold our officers to a higher standard and take swift action to investigate and hold every employee accountable when there is evidence of wrongdoing.
Spokesperson, Aurora Police Department

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