A former Denver area tumbling coach accused of inappropriately touching a teenage female athlete during a one-on-one gym session was found not guilty by an Adams County jury earlier this month. 

It was the end of a painful ordeal for 37-year-old Travon Booker, whose mission now that he’s been acquitted is to undo the damage his reputation endured for more than a year.

“I’m not petty but at the same time my life has been ruined,” the former University of Colorado and Broncos tumbler told The Denver Gazette on the heels of a four-day trial in Adams County.

Booker, of Denver, was arrested on April 7, 2023 in the parking garage of his hotel while he was coaching a national competition in Florida. The alleged sexual assault incident that prompted his arrest supposedly happened Feb. 16, 2023 at Steele Athletics, a Denver youth tumbling and cheerleading club. 

Booker insists that he never inappropriately touched his accuser, who had an injury. She alleged that he inappropriately touched her while he was applying pain reliever balm to her lower back.

“I did not put my hand up her shorts. Why would I do something like that when I’m trying to help an athlete? I’m talking to coaches in colleges to help her get a scholarship. Why would I ruin something like that?” he said in a telephone interview.

Booker said the athlete’s injury was so bad she could hardly walk. He accompanied the teen to her car and called her mother, said Booker. 

Six weeks later, the former coach was arrested in Florida by Daytona police during a cheer competition. Law enforcement displayed a photo of Booker, from behind, in handcuffs as officers placed him in the back seat of a police vehicle. His mug shot was plastered on local law enforcement Facebook pages.

In an X post, the Daytona police wrote: “Getting predators like Booker off our streets and away from our children is something we prioritize and take very seriously at the Daytona Beach Police Department.”

Booker spent a month in a Daytona County jail awaiting extradition and bonded out once he arrived in Colorado. The ankle monitor he was required to wear as part of his bond agreement kept him from doing odd jobs, like plumbing, to keep money coming in. During the trial, he said prosecutors called him a sexual predator and a pedophile. 

He lost his job at Steele Athletics and, ostracized from the tumbling world, could only find work as a handyman and as a cellphone salesman to make ends meet. 

The Denver Gazette is not naming the alleged victim, who was 15 at the time of the incident.

Booker said that he worked with the athlete for two years before her accusation. The second charge came later, and was also one of inappropriate touching of a female athlete. He was acquitted of both counts against him. 

At least half a dozen people testified against Booker, leaving only himself to take the stand on his behalf. There was no video evidence of the alleged sexual assault as cameras in the gym were not working, but the prosecution played a taped phone conversation initiated by investigators between Booker and the original accuser during which he apologized to her. 

Jennifer Byers, an ex-girlfriend and business partner who was supportive of Booker when he was first arrested, turned against him and ended up as the first witness for the prosecution in relation to the second sex assault charge. That count was added later and involved her teenaged daughter, who also alleged Booker touched her inappropriately. 

Byers said she is glad the “rollercoaster” of the last nearly two years is over.

“I would prefer for him never to be able to coach again,” she said, adding that she was surprised and disappointed by the verdict. “I did not want for him to go prison but I wanted for him to receive probation and get some sort of therapy.” 

Today, Booker is a cell phone salesman and does not expect to ever coach tumbling again.

When the jury returned a not guilty verdict on both sex assault charges, Booker said he blacked out. 

“I was an emotional wreck,” he said. “I was in shock. I found myself thanking God. I turned around and when I did, everyone but my brother and his girlfriend were gone. I cried. I continue to cry.”

Seventeenth Judicial District Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian McGarry and Colorado Public Defender Luke Davis declined a request from The Denver Gazette for comment.