Jul 16, 2019
Former UFC fighter Trujillo accused of sexual exploitation of child
Former UFC fighter Abel Trujillo has been charged with felony sexual exploitation of a child and felony obscenity. He is being held with bond set at $10,000 in Castle Rock, Colorado, according to the Douglas County Court Deputy inmate database.
Former UFC fighter Abel Trujillo has been charged with felony sexual exploitation of a child and felony obscenity. He is being held with bond set at $10,000 in Castle Rock, Colorado, according to the Douglas County Court Deputy inmate database.
Trujillo, 35, last fought professionally in UFC’s lightweight division in December of 2017, was arrested on May 24 in Broward County, Florida, after a warrant for his arrest was issued in Colorado. He was extradited to Douglas County in mid-June.
A Douglas County Court Deputy told TSN that the court had no record of Trujillo entering a plea as of yet.
A preliminary court hearing for Trujillo is scheduled for this Thursday at the Douglas County Courthouse.
In Colorado, sexual exploitation of a child is defined as “possessing, producing or distributing sexually explicit material (pornography) involving a child under 18" and this particular charge, as outlined in Colorado court documents obtained by TSN, specifies someone who "possesses or controls any sexually exploitative material for any purpose".
Trujillo’s particular obscenity charge is defined as “a person commits wholesale promotion of obscenity to a minor if, knowing its content and character, such person wholesale promotes to a minor or possesses with intent to wholesale promote to a minor any obscene material.”
Due to the nature of the charges, the details surrounding the incident are not available for public release according to Deputy Cocha Hayden, the Public Information Officer for Douglas County.
If convicted, each charge, both designated as Class 6 felonies in Colorado, could carry a prison sentence of 12 to 18 months and a fine of $1,000 to $100,000.
Trujillo’s previous UFC opponents include current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former interim champion Tony Ferguson.
The 35-year-old last fought in the UFC in December of 2017 in Winnipeg where he lost to Canadian John Makdessi via unanimous decision.
He was scheduled to participate in the main event of Battlefield FC 2 in Macau on July 27 against former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks, but has subsequently been replaced by Gleison Tibau.
Trujillo has had other legal issues previously, including being convicted of domestic abuse causing injury in 2007 and domestic abuse assault in 2009, according to Iowa court records.