ALAMOSA — At the conclusion of a trial that was scheduled for five days but lasted only three, Raymond Karpovage, 68, of Hooper was found guilty of “knowingly, unlawfully and feloniously” sexually assaulting an adult person-at-risk.  

The charging document further states that Karpovage was aware that the victim was incapable of appraising the nature of the victim’s conduct. Sexual assault of a person at risk is a class two felony. 

The victim of the assault – a woman who is 31 years old – has been diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has been evaluated as functioning at the cognitive level of someone who is about 5 years old, making her especially vulnerable. 

As was testified in court, she went missing from her family’s home in Hooper in the early evening of June 29, 2023. Sometimes, her stepfather said, she would ride her bike in the neighborhood surrounding her house, something her parents felt was safe as just about “everyone in town” knew who she was.  

But that evening was different.  

When the victim’s mother went looking for her and could not immediately find her, she called her husband, the young woman’s stepfather, and a search immediately ensued. Her stepfather testified that, in a small town with a population of less than 80 people, as many as “eight or nine” adults plus personnel with the sheriff’s office and fire department were looking for her for hours, walking up and down the streets and calling her name. 

Her stepfather continued to look for her all night, calling out her name, knocking on doors and asking people if they had seen his stepdaughter. However, there was one house that he and a friend passed up, believing that it would be unnecessary to knock on the door in the middle of the night when the resident appeared to be a respectable, older man.  

As circumstances turned out, that house is where the young woman was ultimately found the next day. 

When questioned, Karpovage initially told Alamosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Sergio Cazares that he thought the young woman was a child and denied any sexual contact with the victim. He said he had been using a magnet to look for items on his driveway when she had seen him and “became excited.”  He further claimed that he asked to take her home but “she was insistent that she didn’t want to go home.” Karpovage said, the next morning, he planned to take her home but she was “feeling sick”.   

He also claimed he did not know that residents, deputies or people with the fire department were looking for her and did not hear people calling her name or seeing the head lights of law enforcement vehicles driving through the neighborhood.  

When Deputy Cazares returned to Karpovage’s house the next day to take DNA samples, and, according to the prosecution, it became apparent to Karpovage what Cazares was going to do, the deputy testified that Karpovage gave a different version of events, admitting to “fooling around just a little bit”, “wanting to make it nice” for the young woman and then saying, as contact became more intrusive, she “was consensual.” 

An examination of DNA samples collected as evidence revealed that, as the charging document states, Karpovage “inflicted sexual intrusion or sexual penetration” of the victim.  

In Colorado, a class two felony sexual assault can carry a sentence from eight to 24 years in the Department of Corrections with parole ranging from three to five years. Karpovage is scheduled for a sentencing hearing at 3 p.m. on Sept. 3, in the court of District Judge Crista Newmyer-Olsen, presiding. 

In a statement to the Valley Courier, DA Anne Kelly said the following related to this case.  "We have a responsibility as a community to care for and protect the most vulnerable among us. The victim in this case, a sweet and caring woman with a severe developmental disability, is one of our most vulnerable.  Mr. Karpovage took advantage of her and her disability. I am thankful for the time and attention that the jury gave to this case and believe the right outcome was reached. I encourage everyone to reach out to our community’s care providers and thank them for the tireless and selfish work they do to protect and care for our most vulnerable, like the victim here. The Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office did a tremendous job pursuing this difficult case."