Former Colorado teacher Patricio Illanes, who has worked with kids at various schools for the last 15 years, was arrested on Monday and is now facing 50 charges of sexual exploitation of a child.
“This particular person worked in schools in Colorado,” Sophie Berman, a detective with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, told CBS News, adding, “We have identified multiple juveniles that were under the ruse of a hypnosis session.”
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said the 39-year-old suspect “photographed and filmed juveniles who were asked to ‘perform a script’ in front of a green screen mimicking a hypnotic state,” and “later edited the imagery for sexual gratification.”
The sheriff’s office added that investigators have so far identified 16 victims and are still trying to find others, the outlet reported.
Four of the alleged victims reportedly told authorities they were minors at the time of their experiences with Illanes, adding that the suspect had told them to remove articles of clothing and perform sexually explicit acts.
Berman, who works in the sheriff’s office’s forensics lab, said they began investigating the matter in September 2025 after receiving three tips that an account on one of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms had been creating and selling sexually explicit content.
After investigators determined that an account belonged to Illanes, they searched his personal cellphone, leading them to discover multiple sexually explicit videos featuring juveniles, which had been shared on encrypted messaging apps and pornography sites, authorities said.
Investigators also said they found photos depicting clothed students in a school setting pretending to be hypnotized.
Illanes — who worked with children for more than a decade at several high schools, at least one middle school, and other programs — was put on leave at the school he had been working at in Arvada, Colorado, after his employer learned of the investigation, Berman said.
“He reached out to me. He said that I look good. He was asking me for my name, for information,” North Carolina resident Diego Pantojas told CBS News of his experience with Illanes.
Pantojas, who noted that he was 16-years-old in 2022, when he joined online hypnosis-related communities, added that he quickly found himself in an inappropriate conversation with a Colorado man in his 30s, who was allegedly Illanes.
“He showed me pictures of some of these boys that were under control,” Pantojas added, referring to a hypnosis state. “Some of them were naked. Some of them were in their underwear.”
Pantojas also said that Illanes sent him sexual messages online and encouraged him to respond with his own.
Since then, he tried to forget about it, but roughly three years later, he was contacted via email by detective Berman, who informed him “that I was either in his Google drive or in his photos,” Pantojas said.
Pantojas told CBS News that he is sharing his story in hopes that it will inspire other victims to come forward.
“Yes, it hurt. Did I cry about this? Yes, because it hurts to feel I got taken advantage of,” Pantojas said, but added that seeing Illanes “get caught,” and knowing that he would be “put behind bars” was a “relief.”
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, says they are still conducting a separate investigation for another adult who is a person of interest related to this issue.
“Even today,” Berman said, “I’ve received several calls, and I just want to continue to encourage potential victims or parents to please talk to your children, ask them about this person and please report it.”
“Please report it,” the detective implored.
Investigators are encouraging anyone with additional information on Illanes to call the Arvada Police Department dispatch at 303-980-7300 or the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office at 720-564-2678 to reach Detective Sophie Berman.
Authorities have also provided the Boulder Police Department’s tip line at 303-441-1974, asking those who contact the department to provide a way for an investigator to return the call.
Those with more information on Illanes can also call 303-441-4444, and press 2 for the Erie Police Department, then reference case report 26-004.
Moreover, they can contact the Lafayette Police Department at 303-604-3504 and ask to speak with Detective Anna Curran, or email her at anna.curran@lafayetteco.gov.
Longmont Public Safety Sergeant Todd Chambers can also be reached at 303-651-8521.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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