A Boulder man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Daniel Schwennesen, 27, pleaded guilty on Dec. 3 to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and witness tampering, with an agreement that he would be sentenced to between four and 22 years in prison.
On Friday, Boulder District Judge Norma Sierra sentenced Schwennesen to 10 years on the assault count followed by four years for the witness tampering count.
“There came a time when (Schwennesen) knew (the victim’s) real age, and he remained sexually engaged in a relationship where he knew or should have known it was not appropriate,” Sierra said.
According to an arrest affidavit, the case was brought to Boulder police in September 2019 when the mother of the victim, a 14-year-old boy, saw text messages between the boy and Schwennesen.
The boy told police he met Schwennesen earlier in the year and that they had sex several times over that period. The boy said he told Schwennesen he was 17, but said Schwennesen would sometimes pick him up from school and knew he was still in high school and living with his parents.
“What is abundantly clear is Mr. Schwennesen did learn about (the victim’s) age at some point,” Boulder Deputy District Attorney Michelle Sudano said. “Rather than taking that age and respecting that (the victim) was nearly 10 years younger than him, he used that to his advantage.”
Sudano said Schwennesen prior to a scheduled trial in the case then communicated with the boy and urged him not to testify.
Sudano said the victim already didn’t want to testify, and that fact was the only reason she offered Schwennesen a plea deal.
“It did not reflect, in my opinion, the serious nature of the allegations,” Sudano said.
Sudano asked for 20 years, saying Schwennesen had engaged in “ongoing attempts to manipulate this process and deny any responsibility for his actions.”
“He says whatever he needs to say to make himself appear the victim,” Sudano said.
Schwenessen addressed the court, saying he made a “terrible mistake.”
“I accept complete responsibility for my actions,” Schwennesen said. “I want to apologize to everyone I’ve hurt. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”
Defense attorney Steven Louth said Schwennesen met the boy over Grindr, a social networking and dating app for LGBTQ users and because the boy had an account he thought he was at least 18.
Louth said Schwennesen was a hard worker and applied to college in the hopes of getting credits while in custody.
“Mr. Schwennesen is someone who is always trying to better himself,” Louth said.
Louth pointed to another case covered by the media that he felt had similar facts, and noted that defendant was given a deferred judgment.
But Sierra said the defendant in that case “did not cast blame off on the named victim,” and also cited Schwennesen’s numerous bond violations and a pending assault case in Arapahoe County.”
“I have some concerns about what the (psycho-sexual evaluation) said about the risk you may present,” Sierra said.
Schwennesen, who had been out on bond, was remanded into the custody of the Boulder County Jail to await transportation to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
