Court documents have been released regarding former Manitou Springs High School teacher Timothy Hilt’s alleged sexual assault on a student.
The former English teacher, 35, faces one count of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.
The Manitou Springs Police Department arrest affidavit says the student, now 22, was allegedly sexually assaulted when she was 15. It states that an inappropriate relationship between Hill and the victim began in 2013, when she was 13.
The victim said she met Hilt when she was a freshman in his class in 2013. Over the next year and a half, the victim told investigators, she and Hilt spent “a lot of time together away from school.”
She alleged that Hilt sexually assaulted her for the first time on March 12, 2015. The affidavit says Hilt allegedly told the victim to stay in his classroom, then locked the door from the outside.
She told investigators he left her there for about an hour and a half before returning. The documents allege that when Hilt came back, he began sexually assaulting her and continued despite her cries.
After the assault, the court documents say, Hilt told the victim not to say anything. In the affidavit, the victim told police she was “scared and confused since he was her teacher and she trusted him.”
According to the documents, the victim told police the alleged sexual assaults continued inside the school, saying Hilt would call her out of her other classes “for the purpose of sexually assaulting her.”
The assaults took place in a nearby classroom, inside a camera closet in the library and in Hilt’s car in the school parking lot, according to the affidavit.
In the documents, the victim told police that Hilt chaperoned a trip to Denver in spring 2015. During that trip, she said, Hilt invited her into his hotel room and allegedly assaulted her.
Over the summer, Hilt reportedly contacted the victim and gave her assignments so she would come to the school and he could assault her.
The victim told police she believes she was assaulted approximately two or three times a week during the 2015 part of the school year. That summer, the victim told police, she was assaulted about once a week. In total, the affidavit says the victim believes she was sexually assaulted a total of 40 times.
In the court documents, police say witnesses corroborated her story. One witness, a friend of the victim, provided screenshots including messages in which Hilt mentioned “details about the sexual nature of the relationship.”
The affidavit also included an interview with a former employee, who told officers he was concerned about outside-school events where Hilt was left alone with students. The employee told officers he told Hilt to “stay in public view, and not go alone with students.”
Police interviewed the victim’s mother and discovered she knew about the alleged sexual assaults but did not come forward due to “not wanting to ruin (her) education or future after school.”
According to the affidavit, the mother told officers “she felt it was her way of protecting her daughter at the time but did have prior knowledge of her daughter being sexually assaulted.”
The victim’s mother also is quoted in the affidavit, saying she confronted Hilt about the alleged sexual assaults, but Hilt did not say anything. She told officers she “expressed her desire for him to quit his job, move away and never talk to her daughter ever again.”
The next day, the mother said, Hilt resigned from his teaching position and moved away. That was in 2016.
On Nov. 19, Hilt was arrested in Routt County. He was released on bond and is due in El Paso County Court on Thursday, Dec. 23.