One of the fundamental principles of the U.S. criminal justice system is that all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The court of public opinion, however, can be much more fickle and quick to condemn. Add accusations of an incendiary offense, and the calls for the alleged perpetrator’s head will swiftly follow. The desire to aid in promoting public safety is admirable, but what happens to the life of the alleged perpetrator after it’s determined that they didn’t do it?
That’s the situation 78-year-old Colorado resident Lelan Donelson finds himself in after the Brush Police Department announced on October 30, 2025, the 13th Judicial District District Attorney’s Office was dismissing all charges of sexual exploitation of a child he stood accused of. Claims made by a member of a civilian activist group called Colorado Ped Patrol (CPP) in January 2025 led to Donelson being arrested for 140 felonies involving child pornography and having his life turned upside down and inside out.
The press release from the Brush PD came as a surprise to some, who had perhaps already tried and convicted Donelson without the necessity of a trial. Prosecutors went from amending the number of charges to dismissal after determining that the “evidence” on Donelson’s phone wasn’t child porn. While he no longer must defend his innocence in district court, Donelson may still find himself judged by those around him.
Who Watches the Watchmen?
The CPP touts itself as a “predator catching group” that sets up “sting operations” on dating sites designed to ensnare adults seeking liaisons with minors. The founder, Tommy Fellows, has faced accusations of entrapment, online bullying, and falsely claiming to be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization while soliciting donations to fund travel for their activities. Videos of the encounters with those they accuse are posted online and can remain available even when their subjects are proven not guilty of the group’s allegations.
Donelson’s unwanted propulsion into notoriety began in January 2025 with an unexpected visit at his brush home by Fellows. While wearing a body camera to record the interaction for posting on Facebook, Fellows accused Donelson of trying to arrange a meeting with a 13-year-old girl on a dating site and having received an intimate video from her. Donelson denied the claims and, when Fellows wouldn’t leave, called the Brush PD.
After discussing the situation with the police officers, who believed they had probable cause to suspect Donelson, he offered them his cellphone. He replaced it with a used one purchased on eBay. When he continued to experience problems with the non-wiped phone, he brought it to the Brush PD as well, confident in his innocence.
Instead of being exonerated, Donelson found himself the subject of an arrest warrant by Brush law enforcement on April 1. Charged with 140 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, he was arrested and sent to the Morgan County Detention Center. With the announcement of the arrest, the Brush community anointed Donelson with the modern version of a scarlet letter. Despite not yet having stood trial, he was vilified and scorned by those he considered friends and allies. His house was vandalized, his family changed their names, and he began receiving death threats from those convinced he was a pedophile.
The Investigation May Have Needed a Little More Investigation
While some in Brush already considered Donelson guilty, those in the district attorney’s office were coming to a much different conclusion. Once the prosecutors moved beyond police reports and affidavits, the case against Donelson began to unravel. The 140 counts of sexual exploitation were pared down to 15. It was also discovered that neither of the phones had been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tech experts.
The FBI results raised a fair amount of reasonable doubt, which deepened as the prosecution continued to investigate. The images from Donelson’s original phone returned no matches in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database, an archive that tracks and catalogs widely distributed images of child sexual assault. The attorneys weren’t able to prove that any of the images were child porn.
As for the replacement phone, the FBI determined that the files it contained were in a cache that had never been opened. Realizing that they were unlikely to achieve the legal standard required to prove Donelson guilty of anything he stood accused of, the district attorney’s office dropped all charges against him on October 30.
Some in the community were outraged over the dismissal, and the Brush police department showed little regret over the investigation prompted by the CPP. Donelson’s absolution was likely a bittersweet victory for a man perhaps no longer welcome in the town he called home. While nothing has been filed yet, when speaking to reporters his attorney would not rule out Donelson filing a lawsuit against the city.
Related Resources
- What To Do if You’re Falsely Accused of a Crime (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- How Prosecutors Decide To Charge You With a Crime (FindLaw’s Criminal Law Basics)
- Filing a Lawsuit (FindLaw’s Litigation and Appeals)
