COLORADO CITY – A Colorado City man avoided a two- to five-year prison term during his August 14 sentencing hearing for a sex offense involving a 24-year-old girl. Delbert Barlow, 55, previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault.
Barlow allegedly groped the victim as she slept on the couch at a Colorado City home on South Hammon Street on Dec. 25, 2023. Defense attorney Virginia Crews said the aberrant, criminal behavior occurred because Barlow was overwhelmed by impairment.
Barlow said it had been a long time since he had consumed any “hard alcohol” like he did that Christmas Day. He said it was also the very first time he ingested marijuana.
“That completely changed his mindset and caused him to do some actions that he wouldn’t have done otherwise,” Crews told Judge Doug Camacho.
In his letter to the Court pleading for probation Barlow said he hoped to continue providing for some of his children that he said were taken away from him, along with his wife, by the FLDS church in 2011. He said he began reconnecting with his kids a couple of years ago and prayed for probation to continue doing so.
Judge Camacho obliged him with a non-prison, five-year probation sanction. Camacho also ordered that Barlow must serve 180 days in county custody, beginning by no later than Sept. 14.
Dave Hawkins
