Former Denver police sergeant accused of child sex crimes pleads guilty

A former Denver police sergeant facing felony sex charges after online exchanges with a person he thought was a 14-year- old girl has pleaded guilty under an agreement allowing a four-year deferred judgment. He faces sentencing Monday, according to Jefferson County authorities.

Prosecutors negotiated the split-plea deal with former police Sgt. Tim Hyatt, 45, who pled guilty Jan. 23 to attempting to commit sexual assault on a child, authorities said. The deal gives the deferred judgment, subject to conditions of supervised probation for adult sex offenders, authorities said. The deal also includes a permanent conviction for attempting to commit unlawful sexual contact.

Hyatt will be required to register as a sex offender, said Brionna Boatright, spokeswoman for the district attorney in Colorado’s 1st Judicial District.

Hyatt joined the Denver Police Department in 2005. He resigned in 2022 after he was charged with using the internet to lure a child, a more severe felony.

A Jefferson County sheriff’s detective conducting internet investigations of suspected child sex offenders had posed online as a 14-year- old girl and was contacted by a “Tim,” later revealed to be Hyatt. In a series of exchanges online, Hyatt made sexually explicit advances toward the fictitious girl and agreed to meet at a park in Lakewood. He did not go to the park.

The online investigations began in February. Hyatt turned himself in at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office in August, according to county records, and was arrested. Denver police suspended him without pay before his resignation Nov. 28.