Sex offender repeatedly posed as immigration official to assault girls

Kenneth Dean Lee was recently returned to prison after sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl. Lee told child's mother and another adult that he was an immigration official and demanded to speak with the girl in a bedroom. 

Lee, a registered sex offender, had been released on parole 18 months prior to the incident. He had used the same tactic in previous attacks, according to prosecutors. 

Monday, an Arapahoe County judge sentenced Lee to 40 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the latest assault.  

"Based on the facts surrounding this case and previous criminal cases, this defendant targeted immigrant and refugee families and victimized women and children who had no idea they were letting a dangerous predator into their homes," Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Dawson stated in a press release. "I can only hope this new prison sentence will actually keep Mr. Lee behind bars for the rest of his life so he will not be able to victimize anyone else in our community."  

Lee had been sentenced in 2014 to 23 years in prison for the three earlier assaults. 

According to a timeline provided by the 18th Judicial District:

• Lee told a family of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl in 2010 that he was with the Immigration Service and needed to speak with her. He took the girl to her bedroom and sexually assaulted her.
• Lee called the home of a 12-year-old Vietnamese victim in 2011 and told her he was a doctor and needed to perform an exam. The victim advised Lee her mother was asleep and asked him to call back later. Lee waited until the victim's mother left the house and then knocked on the door and asked the victim to let him inside to perform the exam. The victim let Lee into her home where Lee reportedly assaulted the young girl.  
• In a second separate crime filed in the same 2011 case, Lee called the home of a 22-year old Vietnamese victim, and performed the same ruse, posing as an immigration doctor and then sexually assaulting the woman.  

Lee was released on parole in April 2020. 

In the most recent case, the 66-year-old Lee knocked on the door of an apartment on North Chester Street, entered without permission, and demanded to speak with the 7-year-old girl alone. He left after five minutes, the child's mother told investigators, and drove off in an unmarked minivan.

Those investigators found surveillance video from the apartment complex which showed the suspect getting into a white Dodge Caravan. The license plates were registered to Lee. 

Lee was also wearing a parole-mandated ankle monitor. The GPS coordinates from the ankle monitor confirmed he was at the apartment complex on the same day and time the assault occurred.  

"It's disheartening and appalling when a person convicted of sexually violent crimes gets released after serving a fraction of their sentence," 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner stated. "Colorado has a lenient parole system that allowed this dangerous offender to walk out of prison and re-offend. The community deserves accountability and transparency as to how and why a sexually violent predator was set free so early."