A former taekwondo instructor was sentenced Friday after previously pleading guilty to recording children in changing rooms, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said. 

Erik Chen, 32, was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Chen was arrested in July 2022. Castle Rock police said at the time that the known incidents occurred from the beginning of 2019 to early 2021, when Chen ran camps as an instructor at Han Lee’s Taekwondo Academy. Police said the charges stemmed from multiple incidents throughout Douglas County and Aurora. 

Investigators were first made aware of accusations against Chen in February 2021, when a parent contacted Aurora Police. He reported that his daughters told him they were changing at the Lone Tree Recreation Center when they found Chen’s phone recording them, authorities said.

Prosecutors said the victims indicated they deleted the videos. An incident report was taken, but, prosecutors said Friday that “there was not enough probable cause or evidence to make an arrest at that time.”

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