ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Content warning: This story involves allegations of systematic sexual abuse of multiple children.
Two women charged last year in connection with child sex abuse allegations dating back to 2001 have been sentenced to prison.
Rona Culler, 56, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of child sexual exploitation. Eight other charges were dismissed. She was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison.
Culler was one of three people arrested and charged last year in Arapahoe County. Court documents obtained by 9Wants to Know describe her as a girlfriend of Allan Long, who was one of the others charged.
Allan Long pleaded guilty to 10 counts and was sentenced to 80 years to life in prison in April.
The third suspect, Martha "Loni" Long, pleaded guilty in May to two counts of child sexual exploitation. She was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the first count and six years for the second count. Eight other counts were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
She and Allan Long were married at one time, according to court documents.
The abuse started as far back as 2001 and involved at least seven victims ranging in ages from 4 to 17.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Allan Long on Sept. 7, 2021, after its previous investigation, which was closed in 2007, was reopened.
Ginger Delgado, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said a review of records from 2007 showed that the case might have stalled back then because some of the victims were very young and unwilling to disclose information. Also, key witnesses did not respond to the investigator's attempts to contact them, Delgado said.
The investigator thought, at the time, that there wasn't enough evidence to file criminal charges and deactivated the case pending contact with those witnesses, Delgado said.
The case was revived in 2021 by a supervisor in the evidence bureau as the 2007 allegations neared the statute of limitations.
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