Denver’s district attorney this week declined to file criminal charges against Tay Anderson as documents show Denver Public Schools spent more than $190,000 on its investigation that did not substantiate sexual assault allegations against the school board member.
The Denver Police Department brought a sexual assault case against Anderson to the district attorney’s office, but after reviewing the facts, prosecutors decided Thursday they would be unable to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury, said Carolyn Tyler, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Beth McCann.
“Today, DPD Detective Curtis Johnson confirmed to me that their investigations into Director Anderson have been presented to the Denver DA’s office, who has declined to file any charges,” Christopher Decker, Anderson’s attorney, said in an email.
Anderson, 23, repeatedly has denied all sexual assault allegations.
Meanwhile, the DPS Board of Directors spent $192,004 on its investigation, which was launched in April, according to documents obtained by The Denver Post through a Colorado Open Records Act request.
The largest amount was paid to Investigations Law Group, the outside firm hired in April to investigate sexual assault and harassment allegations against Anderson. But the board also used a public relations firm and another law firm to help it navigate the crisis, invoices from the three firms show.
The invoices show:
- Investigations Law Group received $160,365 for its work, which lasted from early April through mid-September
- Rockford Gray, the PR firm, was paid $25,758, with the largest bill coming in April when the crisis started. That month’s invoice was $13,737.
- Caplan and Earnest, a Boulder law firm that advises educational institutions, received $5,880
The investigative report, which was released Sept. 15, found that all sexual assault allegations against Anderson were unsubstantiated, including claims by a woman who testified before the state legislature that a predator in the school district had preyed on dozens of students. The school board later said she was referring to Anderson, and the investigators concluded the woman was not credible. No victims ever came forward.
However, Anderson’s fellow school board members voted to censure him last week after the report determined that he had flirted online with a 16-year-old DPS student before realizing her age and that he made social media posts that were coercive or intimidating to potential witnesses in the investigation.
The school board hired ILG to conduct the investigation after Black Lives Matter 5280 in late March posted an accusation from an anonymous woman who said Anderson had sexually assaulted her. Shortly after that accusation was made, a group of young women who worked with Anderson on Never Again Colorado, a now-defunct youth gun-control group, said he made them uncomfortable with unwanted sexual attention.
Anderson has apologized for his behavior while serving as president of Never Again Colorado, which folded shortly after it started in 2018.
In the days after the report was released, more than 1,000 DPS students walked out of class to demand Anderson’s resignation. He has vowed to remain on the board.
