A retired pilot who flew from Canada to Colorado to meet with a child for sex will spend up to 12 years in prison after he was caught in an Aurora child predator sting in April, according to court documents.
Ralph Edward Bledsoe, a 68-year-old Teller County man, took a deal and pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child-video on Sept. 19, Arapahoe County court records show.
The deal dismissed six other felony charges from Bledsoe’s case: one count of luring a child on the internet with the intent to exploit them and five counts of internet sexual exploitation of a child.
Bledsoe was one of two men arrested in April on suspicion of trying to meet with children for sex, according to the Aurora Police Department. The Florissant man allegedly sent gifts ahead of that meeting, including lingerie and sex toys.
He will next appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Dec. 5, where he faces 4 to 12 years in prison, court records show.
The charge Bledseo pleaded guilty to stems from a March 27 incident where he accessed a “sexually exploitative” video involving a child, according to his plea agreement.
The second man arrested in the Aurora sting, 40-year-old Gregory Thomas Daniels, also took a deal in September, according to court records.
Daniels pleaded guilty to one count of luring a child on the internet with the intent to exploit them, a deal that dropped a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest from his case.
On April 2, Daniels “unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly” chatted online with a person he believed to be under the age of 15, described “explicit sexual conduct” and invited the person to meet for sex, according to a copy of his plea agreement.
He was sentenced in September to 10 years to life in prison, according to court documents.
Daniels was also ordered to pay nearly $8,000 in court fees and prohibited from contacting anyone under the age of 18, court documents show.
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