‘Heroic’ officer charged with sexually abusing his daughter remains free as mother is thrown behind bars in divorce bottle

A retired Colorado police officer once hailed as a hero for his response to the 2012 Aurora movie theater mass shooting has been charged with sexually abusing his daughters, but a judge has granted him visitation with them while the victim’s mother remains behind bars amid a bitter custody battle.

Michael Hawkins, 55, faces criminal charges for allegedly raping his daughter and continuously sexually harassing her and his two adopted daughters, the Denver Gazette.

In July, he was released under GPS monitoring after posting $50,000 bail.

Meanwhile, her ex-wife Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins is serving seven weekends behind bars for refusing to send their two sons, ages 10 and 13, to court-ordered reunification therapy with Hawkins.

The therapy was part of their divorce proceedings, which began before Hawkins was criminally charged with six felony counts of sexual abuse of a child and one misdemeanor count of child abuse. The latter charge is for abuse that allegedly lasted from 2002 to 2021.

Hawkins is accused of raping his daughter, now 17, when she was just 5 years old. She alleged that her father abused her continuously throughout her childhood, despite her protests that he should stop, according to court documents obtained by the Denver Gazette.

Pickrel-Hawkins’ two daughters, whom Hawkins adopted, also allege they were sexually abused by Hawkins.

The former police officer is also accused of holding his now 19-year-old son underwater during a trip to Costa Rica in 2018, in retaliation for confronting Hawkins about his alleged actions, court documents show.

Hawkins earned acclaim more than a decade ago when he responded to the tragic mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater that left 12 people dead and dozens injured. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was medically retired from the Aurora Police Department in 2018.

The alleged rape of his daughter began in 2012, after he responded to the shooting, but his ex-wife told investigators that “a lot of the issues existed before that.”

Hawkins “strongly denies the allegations,” his attorney Christopher Estoll told the Denver Post“The legal process will provide him with the opportunity to present additional information regarding these allegations in the future.”

The former couple’s two sons are still in the care of Pickrel-Hawkins, but they are staying at a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

One of her many supporters has started a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $70,000 as of Tuesday morning.

Pickrel-Hawkins posted a video on TikTok about completing her first weekend in prison, which began on August 31 and ends after seven weeks.

She was found guilty of contempt of court after resisting therapy, describing the sessions as “nothing but manipulation, psychological abuse” and “coercion and gaslighting.”