DENVER — A Greeley man convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls for several years will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A Weld County judge on Thursday sentenced Christipher Shafer, 48, to 120 years to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Shafer was convicted in June after the two victims came forward in 2018.
Prosecutors said Shafer sexually assaulted the victims — the youngest was 7 years old and the oldest was 9 — beginning in 2016.
The victims said Shafer would smack them in the head if the victims did not allow him to sexually abuse them, according to a news release from the Nineteenth Judicial District.
“I have no doubt that the defendant’s family never saw the side of him that victims in this case saw,” Deputy District Attorney Yvette Guthrie said in a statement. “Mr. Shafer is extremely manipulative like all sex offenders are. Both of these girls demonstrated extraordinary courage to come to court and testify against the man who molested them, seated only steps away from them. Neither of these girls should have ever had to explain to a jury the humiliating and disgusting things he did to them.”
Shafer was convicted of five counts of sexual assault on a child. The judge sentenced him to the maximum range of 24 years to life in prison for each count. The sentences will be served consecutively.