Man sentenced to 28 years in prison for Boulder peeping cases

Aug. 10—A parolee who pleaded guilty to videotaping numerous women in their homes in the University Hill area of Boulder was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Wednesday.

Vincent Calhoun, 47, in January pleaded guilty as charged to 34 counts including numerous counts of invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, attempted invasion of privacy and trespassing.

Boulder District Judge Thomas Mulvahill on Wednesday sentenced Calhon to two years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for each of the 14 felony invasion of privacy charges in the case, for a total of 28 years.

Calhoun has been in custody since his arrest and was given time served on the remaining misdemeanor and petty offenses, but will not get any credit for time served toward his prison sentence.

Mulvahill noted Calhoun's lengthy criminal history included multiple instances of peeping, including a case in 2011 in Boulder County. Mulvahill said the totality of the case and Calhoun's history warranted a lengthy incarceration.

"Eleven years ago he already had history of peeping behavior," Mulvahill said. "So when he shows up with these cases in Boulder, he's been victimizing women with his peeping behavior and voyeuristic behavior for more than two decades."

Boulder police became aware of this case when Calhoun was arrested by Fort Collins police in 2020 after he was reportedly caught peeping into a resident's window.

According to an affidavit, Fort Collins police examined Calhoun's phone as part of that case and discovered more than 30 videos taken near Boulder that depicted naked or partially dressed women, some of them engaging sexual acts, between April 19 and Sept. 30 of 2020.

The information was forwarded to Boulder detectives, who were able to successfully identify 20 of the 25 victims and get surveillance footage of a man matching Calhoun's description from some of the residences.

Mulvahill noted that in the some of the footage Calhoun can be seen masturbating, and in one instance he used a ladder to get to an upper floor window. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Calhoun searched on his phone for addresses where multiple young women would be living.

"That's not casual, that's not opportunistic," Mulvahill said. "That's calculated, that's purposeful, it's intentional."

One of the victims spoke to the court by video and said that after they were told about the peeping, "our sense of feeling safe in our own home was gone." Several other victims also submitted statements about the impact the case has had on their lives.

"It's very clear this something that impacted them at the time greatly, and is continuing to impact them," Boulder County Senior Deputy District Attorney Michelle Sudano said. Sudano also noted Calhoun is still facing charges for similar allegations in Fort Collins and Denver.

"This is an individual who has doing this for longer than this group of women have been alive," Sudano said.

Calhoun apologized to the women in his statements to the court, and said he "let everyone down."

"I would just like to say sorry to the victims in this case," Calhoun said. "I never had any idea how much this would affect them and their lives."

Calhoun's attorney Jennifer Engelmann asked for a prison sentence under 10 years. She noted Calhoun from the beginning was "ashamed and sorry" and wanted to plead guilty from the start of the case. But Engelmann said the DA's only offer included a 72-year prison stipulation, eventually leading Calhoun to simply plead guilty as charged with no agreement in place.

"He knew he was guilty and wanted to be done," Engelmann said. "He didn't want these girls to have to go through a trial."

Engelmann also noted that in her study of previous invasion of privacy felony cases in Colorado, lengthy prison sentences were unheard of.

"As dreadful as what he did in this case was, it's a Class 6 felony," Engelmann said.

But Mulvahill said even though a Class 6 felony was the lowest level felony in Colorado, "It's still a Class 6 felony. And it's a Class 6 felony every time he peeps in some young woman's window. And every time he peeps in some young woman's window at this point, there needs to be a sentence, and it needs to be a significant sentence."

As for Engelmann's statistics, Mulvahill said Calhoun's repeated offenses and continued failures in treatment made him an unprecedented case.

"Bottom line is this: He's a sexual predator," Mulvahill said. "And I understand the statistics Ms. Engelmann compiled. But what distinguishes this defendant from any of the other 90-plus defendants (Engelmann looked up) is that this defendant has done it before, over and over and over again. Dozens and dozens if not hundreds and hundreds of times before.

"He is unique in his level and extent of offending behavior."