ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Content warning: This story involves allegations of systematic sexual abuse of multiple children
A man who was charged with 42 counts related to child sexual abuse that dated back to 2001 made a surprise guilty plea Friday afternoon.
Allan Long, 51, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing but waived that and the case was immediately bound over. He pleaded guilty to 10 counts and faces 80 years to life when sentenced in April.
Long, who has worked as a volunteer firefighter, trucker and karaoke business operator, faced more than 40 felony counts amid accusations that he systematically sexually abused children over two decades – allegations that were reported to authorities multiple times over the years but never thoroughly investigated, 9Wants to Know has learned.
>The video above is a prior report about the case that aired in December.
Two women still face felony sexual assault charges in the case, accused of being involved in the abuse.
Some of that sexual abuse involved their own children, according to court documents obtained by 9NEWS.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested 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 an alert supervisor in the evidence bureau. The 2007 allegations were nearing the statute of limitations, and a decision needed to be made about releasing or destroying evidence in the case.
The evidence supervisor read reports related to the case and notified a detective.
Prosecutors had charged Long with 42 separate charges – 20 counts of sexual assault on a child as part of a pattern of abuse; six counts of sexual contact – coercion of a child; five counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust; five counts of sexual assault on a child as part of a pattern of abuse; three counts of sexual exploitation of a child; one count of sexual contact with no consent by force or threat; and one count of sexual assault – overcoming a victim’s will.
In court Friday he pleaded guilty to 10 counts:
- 3 counts sex assault on a child by a person in position of trust-pattern
- 7 counts sex assault on a child-pattern of abuse
“As a society, we should at least acknowledge and commend Allan Long for what he did today," said Colin Breese, the attorney representing Long.
Martha “Loni” Long, 52, faces four counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, one count of aggravated incest and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
She and Allan Long were married at one time, according to court documents.
Martha Long was being held on $100,000 bail. She's next due in court March 4 for an arraignment hearing.
Rona Culler, 55, faces 10 counts of sexual assault on a child as part of a pattern of abuse, five counts of aggravated incest, and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
She was being held on $1 million bail. She's next due in court Jan. 28 for an arraignment hearing.
Court documents obtained by 9Wants to Know describe her as a girlfriend of Long’s.
History of abuse
The abuse started as far back as 2001 and continued until at least 2014 and involved at least seven victims ranging in ages from 4 to 17. One alleged victim told investigators she was sexually assaulted from childhood until age 21.
In a news release issued after 9NEWS began asking about the case, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said, “there could be many more” victims – and that the abuse could have started before 2001.
The court documents detail one instance after another where child sex abuse allegations involving Allan Long were brought to the attention of authorities – but never thoroughly investigated:
- In July 2004, one of the alleged victims told her grandmother she’d been “molested” by Allan Long. That same week, the alleged abuse was reported to the Wyoming Department of Family Services, but according to court documents “the abuse was not reported to law enforcement.”
- In July 2007, the biological father of an alleged victim reported Allan Long to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. An investigator worked on the case, but according to court documents that detective “appeared to take no further action in this case, based on his reports.”
- In May 2009, June 2010, August 2011, January 2012, July 2013, and February 2015, various people reported Allan Long or Martha Long – or both – to the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services. It is not clear in some cases what the reports entailed, but at least one of them involved an allegation that Allan Long had child pornography, including pictures showing girls as young as 4 or 5 years old.
- In February 2015, two allegations of child sex abuse involving Allan Long were forwarded to the Colorado Springs Police Department, which investigated the case before it was “eventually closed inactive after they were unable to contact Allan (Long).”
When asked for comment, the Wyoming Department of Family Services said that under state law, "any information relating to investigations/child protection cases is confidential" and therefore they "cannot provide any specific information related to any abuse or neglect investigation because of the statutory confidentiality restrictions."
Arapahoe County Human Services responded to an inquiry and said they "cannot comment on past and current cases in Human Services."
"According to the Colorado Children’s Code, we must protect information in cases involving children and families who have been or are served in Child Protection Services," the department went on to say in its statement.
Colorado Springs Police Lt. James Sokolik said his department's investigation of Allan Long and Martha Long was ended because it didn't have jurisdiction. He said the complaints were referred to both the Castle Rock and Aurora police departments in August 2015.
Sokolik said consideration will be given to filing charges now that more information has come to light.
It wasn't clear how Aurora and Castle Rock detectives handled the complaint. They did not respond to questions from 9NEWS.
"Whatever happened, they were told that they weren’t important," Wachtel said of the alleged victims.
Court documents obtained by 9Wants to Know detail a horrific series of incidents – some provided by alleged victims who are now adults.
One alleged victim told investigators that she was molested “every two days” for a year. Another said that at times she was being molested by Allan Long while Martha Long watched.
Culler, according to court documents, admitted to molesting children but said that Allan Long “coerced” her.
“That makes me sound like a, a voluntary partner in this, but he would get me drunk and then we would go to bed and he’d have the kids come in,” she told investigators, according to court documents.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Investigations from 9Wants to Know