Three alleged victims in a sexual gratification case against former La Plata County Jail Cmdr. Edward Aber testified Wednesday at the Colorado State Capitol in support of a bill aimed at preventing sexual abuse in jails.
After more than four hours of testimony, the House Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 26-1123, Prevent Sexual Abuse in Jails, to the House Appropriations Committee on a 7-4 vote with amendments.
The bill was introduced in mid-February by Colorado lawmakers, including Rep. Katie Stewart, D-Durango, who represents House District 59.
Stewart told The Durango Herald in February that Aber’s case “100 percent” informed her desire to pursue the bill, which aims to tighten and rework regulations surrounding strip searches and sexual abuse in Colorado jails.
Aber was accused in July of using his administrative access to evidence.com to watch strip-search videos – which depicted “close-up vantage points of the intimate parts of at least 117 female inmates” – more than 3,000 times between Feb. 14, 2019, and Jan. 14, 2024, according to an arrest affidavit, and was charged with 118 misdemeanors.
He pleaded not guilty earlier this month, turning down a plea deal that one attorney and some victims viewed as lenient. A trial date was set for August.
HB26-1123 would add new guardrails and limitations to strip searches and the actions of jail staff, including tightening protections around strip searches, establishing rules for filming the searches, restricting access to footage after the search, extending reporting requirements and whistleblower protections for jail staff, and ensuring inmates are aware of their rights and available resources related to sexual violence.
Shrell Begay, who was named as a victim in the Aber case, said she came to the Capitol to represent those who have suffered as a result of sexual abuse.
“I hope my experience is a voice for other women to have the courage and the resilience to stand up for themselves and for others. ... And I truly hope that your sisters, your nieces, your daughters don’t have to go through what I – we’ve – gone through,” she said.
Raven Nyx, a former jail employee who worked with Aber, said the allegations did not come as a surprise. Aber was once dismissive of Nyx’s time-off request to speak to a veterans group about their past sexual assaults, said Nyx, who uses they/them pronouns. Aber also made sexually harassing comments about Nyx’s body, they said.
Nyx said when they approached command staff about Aber’s behavior, they were dismissed and told it “wasn’t that bad.”
Nyx, who now works as a victim advocate with Sexual Assault Services Organization in Durango, said the Sheriff’s Office has strayed from its policies from when they worked as a deputy, and that body cameras did not used to be used while conducting strip searches.
Katrina Lile, another alleged victim named in the Aber case, said the experience has affected her mental health and home life and led her to seek a trauma therapist.
“The emotional toll was immediate,” she said during her testimony.
Alleged victim Suzanne Garcia said Aber had “fouled his oath and utilized his power to victimize women.”
A range of other individuals, including former inmates, attorneys, law enforcement officials and individuals working in nonprofit and advocacy groups, also spoke at the hearing, voicing varying levels of support and a range of amendment suggestions.
There was broad agreement on the need to prevent sexual abuse in jails but disagreement over how the bill is written and where it would apply.
Agreed-upon amendments included extending compliance obligations to all jail personnel, adjusting whistleblower provisions, and reevaluating the bill’s proposed regulations on body camera and surveillance camera use.
Elizabeth Newman, executive director of Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, who also testified in support of the bill, told the Herald that Aber’s case represents one acute example of a long-standing problem in jails.
“We know that the conditions that allow sexual violence to flourish are really conditions that are prevalent in spaces like jails and prisons and detention facilities, but the Aber case was really a crack in the long held belief that this is just a problem that can’t be solved,” she said. “It really opened up people’s eyes to the gaps that we have. It’s really the survivors, who came forward and shared their stories and called for accountability and change, who are moving (this) forward.”
Newman said she is optimistic the bill can improve conditions surrounding sexual abuse in jails.
Stewart said she is committed to amending the bill and continuing to push for reforms to prevent sexual abuse in correctional facilities.
“You have my commitment to continue this work to get it right in hopes that we don’t have to be in this building anymore, legislating this, because maybe someday we will have fixed the problem,” Stewart said. “That won’t happen anytime soon, but I’ll keep showing up. I’ll keep doing the work.”
epond@durangoherald.com
