Accused molester paid $106,000/ Victim’s mother testifies suspect
Bill Hethcock
An accused child molester allegedly posed as a psychologist to dupe a Colorado Springs mother into paying more than $100,000 for therapy for her sons.
While he was supposed to be providing behavioral therapy, Geoff Rantz, 27, was molesting one of the sons the woman was paying him to counsel, the mother testified in a court hearing Wednesday.
The hearing will continue Monday when Judge Theresa Cisneros rules on whether Rantz will stand trial.
Prosecutors added three charges against Rantz, who now faces six charges of sexual assault, three theft charges, kidnapping, criminal impersonation and contributing to the delinquency of minors.
Rantz met the mother in March 1996, told her he was a behavioral specialist with school District 20, and offered to work with her 11- year-old son, who was acting up, the woman testified.
The woman, who was recently divorced at the time, also accepted Rantz’s offers to take her 11- and 13-year-old sons to restaurants and on other outings, she said.
In August 1996, Rantz asked if the 11-year-old son could stay with him for a few days to determine what was wrong with him.
“A couple of days turned into forever,” she said, as Rantz said the boy needed more intensive therapy.
Over the next five years, Rantz bilked the woman out of $106,000 by telling her she needed to pay for therapy, rent, transportation, utility bills, legal expenses and other costs associated with the treatment of her sons, the woman said.
The older son testified that Rantz sexually molested him more than 1,000 times over three years beginning when he was a 14-year-old high school freshman.
Rantz also is accused of faking his credentials to get his job for the El Paso County Department of Human Services, where he was a caseworker from April 1999 until March 2001, when he resigned.
Copyright 2002
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