Verdict Reached in Stan Romanek Criminal Trial

Stan Romanek

Alleged alien abductee Stan Romanek's criminal trial concluded and the jury began deliberations on Monday.

Earlier this afternoon the jury found Romanek guilty on one count of sexual exploitation of a child.  Romanek was found not guilty on a second charge of distributing child pornography.

The Department of Homeland Security was investigating a larger child pornography case and provided Loveland, Colorado police with information about Romanek allegedly possessing and distributing child pornography.

Loveland police arrested Romanek on February 13, 2014, charging him with possessing and distributing child porn.  A search warrant served on Romanek's home resulted in police seizing a laptop computer on which  over 300 images of child pornography and video were reportedly discovered.  The laptop had Romanek's name engraved on it.

According to an affidavit filed by police, during the execution of the search warrant, Romanek admitted he had seen child pornography on his computer but was unsure of how the images got onto his computer.  Romanek and his wife claimed they were the target of hackers because of what they supposedly know about UFOs and aliens.

Romanek pleaded not guilty and the case went to trial before a jury.

While Romanek's wife, Lisa, publicly stated that they would "bring UFOlogy into the courtroom", Romanek's defense attorney did not use UFOs or aliens as part of the defense.  Romanek's attorney argued many people had access to Romanek's computer including his wife and step-son.

The case was not without drama.  The trial was delayed for over a month while prosecutors provided Romanek's attorney with new evidence they discovered.  A former Loveland police officer was accused of tipping off Roamanek about the pending search warrant.  Romanek's wife spoke before the Loveland, Colorado city council about the lead detective in the case. The detective leading the investigation was discovered to be on a Brady List kept by the prosecutor's office.

Detective Brian Koopman

The Brady List stems from a precedent setting US Supreme Court case known as Brady v. Maryland.  During that case, prosecutors charging a man with murder failed to provide evidence showing the defendant had not committed the murder.  The US Supreme Court ruling states that prosecutors and police must turn over all evidence to a defendant including exculpatory evidence.  Exculpatory evidence includes knowing when a police officer has been dishonest or has any credibility issues.

In this instance, Loveland police detective Brian Koopman was placed on the district attorney's Brady List after he was accused of lying during a murder case.  Koopman faced a felony charge of influencing a public official in the matter, but was found not guilty.  Koopman remained employed by Loveland police and his name was placed on the Brady List after the district attorney's office determined he had lied during an investigation.  Koopman was also sued for allegedly targeting a man for manufacturing meth, but the meth turned out to be sugar.

Just prior to the trial, Netflix released a documentary about Romanek's claims of being abducted by extraterrestrials entitled Extraordinary: The Stan Romanek Story.  The company that produced the documentary, J3Films, sold it to Netflix for an undisclosed sum.

The documentary was completed about a month prior to Romanek being arrested and was supposed to stream online via pay-per-view.  The film was not released as scheduled and it is likely that Romanek's arrest was the cause of the film's release being postponed.

Roanek is currently free on bond and his sentencing is scheduled for October 19th, 2017 at 3:30PM.  The prison term for possessing child pornography in Colorado is 4 to 12 years.