PARENTS, APS OFFICIALS DICUSS D.A.R.E. OFFICER'S ARREST

AURORA - Concerned parents attended a special informational meeting
with Aurora Public Schools officials tonight after an in-school
police officer was arrested Monday on child exploitation charges.

Reporters were told to leave the administrative building. A school
system spokeswoman said media was excluded on the advice of the
district's lawyer.

APS Superintendent John L. Barry said in statement that the meeting
was closed because "we wanted an environment that was comfortable for
parents and staff to ask questions and share concerns.

"We held this meeting with a preponderance of caution to ensure that
anyone who had information about Officer Mangino would have the
opportunity to share their thoughts freely."

Officer Michael Mangino, 50, was arrested Monday and is the second
Aurora Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., program official
to face sexual misconduct charges involving children since December.

Mangino worked in six schools: Clyde Miller, Vaughn, Lyn Knoll and
Arkansas elementaries in the Aurora Public Schools system, Eastridge
Elementary in Cherry Creek, and St. Pius X Catholic School in Aurora.

He turned himself in to the Adams County Sheriff's Department Monday
to answer charges he solicited nude pictures from a 15-year-old
runaway girl earlier this month.

"I'm here because I'm concerned about my kid's safety," Elisa Almanea,
whose son, a fifth-grader at Vaughn Elementary, attended the meeting
with her, said outside the meeting.

Another parent, who would not give his name, was more
direct.

"I want to know what the school system is doing to weed these perverts
out," saif the father of two girls. "It doesn't appear they're doing
much." .

According to the charges, Mangino had taken the girl to The Children's
Hospital in Aurora for a drug screening, after she admitted smoking
pot. The girl later told police Mangino told her to use his Droid
phone to take the nude pictures in private and then return it to him.

At a press conference Monday to announce Mangino's arrest, officials
said investigators found the nude photos on his personal phone.

They also found a photo that focused on another girl's clothed
buttocks, apparently taken in a classroom, in addition to sexually
explicit photos of adult women.

In December, Aurora Police Sgt. Morgan Sellman, 39, was arrested in El
Paso County, accused of possessing hundreds of videos of child
pornography depicting victims as young as 2 years old.

Sellman was the D.A.R.E. coordinator and had not taught in schools
since 2001, but instead managed the program's administrative tasks.
His case is scheduled for a trial beginning Aug. 30.

Police have encouraged anyone else who might have been victimized by
Mangino to call Sgt. Joe Young at 303-739-6093 or the department's
Crimes Against Children Unit at 303-739-6155.

Mangino has been on unpaid leave since March 17 and free on $20,000
bond. He faces two felony counts of exploitation of a child and one
felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, as well as
misdemeanor charge of official misconduct.

Until the 15-year-old's allegations, Mangino had a steller reputation,
including being last year's Aurora Chamber of Commerce Humanitarian of
the Year.

At a press conference to announce Magino's arrest Monday, Aurora
Police Chief Dan Oates called him a "respected and revered" officer in
the department.