Cassandra Poncelow Sentenced to 16 Years

Today, Cassandra Poncelow was sentenced to 16 years in the Department of Corrections, which will be followed by 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation, after our office secured a guilty plea to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, a class three felony. 

In 2023, Fort Collins Police Services received a report from the Department of Human Services that a student had shared that her school counselor, Cassandra Poncelow, had a sexual relationship with her over the course of several years. As is common with many survivors who have experienced abuse, sharing the details of their experience can be extremely traumatizing and can often take years to come to terms with. In 2025, the victim contacted law enforcement ready to share the full extent of Poncelow’s abuse. 

At this point, she recounted several years of grooming, sexual assault, and physical abuse she experienced at the hands of Cassandra Poncelow, which led to an arrest in August of 2025. At the time, Fort Collins Police Services was concerned there could be additional victims because of Ms. Poncelow’s tenure in the Poudre School District, and it issued a press release. 

Shortly after, an additional victim came forward to detail the abuse she experienced by Poncelow while she was a Young Life Leader. The victim, who was a minor, described multiple incidents of abuse while involved in the program in 2008. Detectives interviewed others involved with Young Life at the time, who recounted that Ms. Poncelow developed a pattern of close relationships with students over whom she had authority. 

Throughout this case, our office worked closely with both victims as we prepared for a potential trial; ultimately, we agreed to a resolution to the Department of Corrections that would hold Ms. Poncelow accountable and allow the victims to begin healing from her actions. 

The prosecution team, led by Deputy District Attorney Callan Riedel, asked the Court to impose the maximum allowed in the resolution, 16 years, as did the victims and their families. 

“She is going to play the victim,” one victim told the Court. “She is not the victim here; she carved the consequences of her actions into my body.”

“I am very proud of our team and law enforcement for securing this significant sentence and holding Ms. Poncelow accountable. The victims in this case are incredibly brave for coming forward,” said District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin. “The strength of these victims directly led to the accountability we saw today and ensures Cassandra Poncelow cannot continue to harm our community.”   

If you or someone you know has experienced child sexual abuse,  support resources are available in our community:

ChildSafe
https://www.childsafecolorado.org/
970-472-4133

Crawford Child Advocacy Center
https://crawfordcac.org/   
(970) 407-9739

Enough Abuse Campaign

https://enoughabuse.org/get-help/survivor-support/