Last Wednesday, Daniel James Steinhauser, a former juvenile prosecutor with the Denver District Attorney's Office, was sentenced to 60 days in jail and a subsequent five years of supervised probation on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. As reported by Denver7, Steinhauser had previously entered a guilty plea for the misdemeanor offense in July, his involvement with a teenage boy, with whom he had engaged through text messages encouraging marijuana use, brought his actions to legal scrutiny.
The case, initially handled by the Denver Police Department, was later transferred to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office where investigators uncovered what they described as potential "grooming behaviors" in Steinhauser's communications with the boy, according to Denver7. In light of these findings, part of the conditions of his sentencing also includes Steinhauser being explicitly barred from contacting anyone under the age of 18, as detailed by The Denver Post.
As 9NEWS reports, the contact initially arose when the boy's parents, seeking guidance for their son's recent behavioral issues, were referred to Steinhauser by an attorney from a local law firm, they hoped that exposure to the juvenile docket and the weight of potential consequences would influence their son towards better decision-making. Instead, the family found themselves confronting a betrayal as the one they looked to for an example led their son astray.
"This defendant was able to use his position as an attorney to gain the trust of a troubled youth and his parents," said District Attorney John Kellner, as per 9News. Kellner highlighted the egregiousness of the offense, given the trust invested and the position of authority abused by Steinhauser, 9NEWS relayed. While misdemeanors don't always lead to jail time, Kellner believes the jail sentence was justified in this situation to reflect the blatant disregard for the law and the erosion of trust that these actions constituted according to information from the District Attorney's statement.
