Colorado v. Philbert G. Pargas

Colorado v. Philbert G. Pargas was a 2009 criminal case in which Pargas was tried for 16 counts related to the sexual assault of two girls between 1997 and 2007. One of the victims, who was assaulted between July 1997 and June 2001, claims that she did not recall the incidents until years later when she studied recovered memories in her high school psychology class. She is one of two women to speak out against Pargas, who often had young girls over to his house between 1997 and 2007. He allegedly began to abuse the other young woman, who had continuous memory of the abuse, in 2003. During police questioning, Pargas admitted massaging one girl and hugging and kissing at least one other, but denied that the contact was sexual in nature. Pargas's admission to these actions (and his subsequent conviction), coupled with the continuous memory of the second victim involved in the case, corroborate the recovered memories of his first victim. Pargas was arrested on November 28, 2008 and in May of 2010 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. (See Illescas 2008).