Former Aurora, CO cop out on bond for charges of child sexual abuse, ex-wife jailed after refusing to allow children to attend joint therapy with dad

A retired Denver-area police officer, once lauded as a hero for being a first responder at the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, was released from jail on a bail bond after being charged with sexually abusing his daughter.

Meanwhile, his ex-wife is reportedly going to jail because she refused to allow her sons to attend therapy sessions with their father, according to the Daily Mail.



Former Aurora police officer Michael Hawkins was charged on July 29 with six felony counts of sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust and a single count of misdemeanor child abuse. He posted a $50,000 surety bond and remains free from jail while wearing an ankle monitor. 

Hawkins’ ex-wife, Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins, was found in contempt of court after she opted out of the therapy when she claimed the therapist was working with the father to secure custody of the children. The therapy was part of the divorce agreement between the two but was initiated before the former cop was criminally charged, according to the Mail.

Of the couple’s four children, three are minors and Hawkins wants custody of the two youngest boys, who are 10 and 13. Court documents accuse Hawkins of sexually abusing his 17-year-old daughter for years, beginning when the child was five and of attempting to drown his eldest son, now 19-years-old. The daughter said that Hawkins raped her when she was nearly six years old and continually molested her during childhood. 

The 19-year-old accused his father of attacking him out of vindictiveness that stemmed from the boy confronting his father about allegedly putting his hand inside his daughter’s underwear.

Pickrel-Hawkins is looking after the minor children while staying at a domestic violence shelter. She told the Denver Gazette that relatives will look after the kids when she is jailed for seven weekends. She has also been ordered by the court to pay for any therapy sessions her sons attend alone and to pay half the therapy costs incurred by her ex-husband.

Larimer County District Court Judge Daniel McDonald seemed unwilling to believe that Hawkins was capable of gross misconduct prior to formal charges being levied against him. He wrote on July 6: “The court also notes that no criminal charges have been filed and the Department of Human Services’ finding can be based on statements of the child alone with no corroborative evidence.”

Hawkins’ police career was checkered. Although he demonstrated courage in responding to the Aurora movie theater shooting where 12 people died, he was accused in 2017 of bashing a woman on the head after she was falsely accused of attacking the police officer. The dispute led to a lawsuit that was settled out of court by the city. Hawkins retired from the Aurora Police Department in 2018.