{"id":4092,"date":"2026-08-24T19:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T19:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2026-08-24T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T19:04:53","slug":"thornton-youth-pastor-gets-13-years-to-life-in-prison-for-child-sex-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4092","title":{"rendered":"Thornton youth pastor gets 13 years to life in prison for child sex assault"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Thornton youth pastor convicted of child sex assault may spend the rest of his life in prison, according to Adams County officials.<\/p>\n

Read more 85-year-old Longmont cyclist hit, killed in Diagonal Highway crash<\/a><\/p>\n

Joshua Lucero, 29, was sentenced Friday to 13 years to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office. An Adams County jury convicted him in May of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust \u2014 pattern of abuse.<\/p>\n

Lucero worked as a youth pastor at Word Alive Church in Thornton, where his father was the lead pastor, the news release stated. He mentored teens, led church events and supervised overnight youth retreats, officials with the district attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Lucero secretly developed a relationship with a teenage girl in the church\u2019s youth group and began \u201cengaging in sexual contact with her\u201d when she was 16 years old. The incidents happened an unknown number of times over several years, and Lucero pressured her not to tell anyone, according to the release.<\/p>\n

The girl and her parents reported Lucero to church leadership in 2021, but the leadership team did not notify law enforcement and decided to handle the matter internally, officials with the district attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

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Three board members resigned after church leadership decided not to file a police report, prosecutors said. Those board members later reported the assaults to the Thornton Police Department, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Police said the girl was initially unprepared to press charges against Lucero, but she returned to the department in 2024 to speak with investigators. Lucero was arrested in March 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant abused his position as a youth pastor to exploit a child who trusted him,\u201d District Attorney Brian Mason said in a statement. \u201cThe victim in this case showed tremendous courage by coming forward, and today\u2019s sentence reflects the seriousness of this betrayal and the harm she endured.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lucero\u2019s attorney, Chloe Gleichman with the Colorado Legal Defense Group, previously said Lucero \u201cintends to pursue all avenues on appeal.\u201d Gleichman declined to comment Monday.<\/p>\n

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Word Alive Church also did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story and may be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Joshua Lucero was sentenced Friday to 13 years to life in Colorado prison, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-and-public-safety","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThornton youth pastor gets 13 years to life in prison for child sex assault - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4092\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thornton youth pastor gets 13 years to life in prison for child sex assault - 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