CU Boulder student accused of spreading video of classmate being sexually abused as child

Mar. 17—A University of Colorado Boulder student has been arrested after police said she redistributed child abuse material that featured a classmate.

Aria Brauchli, 21, is charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. She is free on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond as she awaits a preliminary hearing on May 4.

According to an affidavit, on March 2 a student at CU Boulder told police she was in class when she received nine messages asking her to accept an air drop message.

When the student opened the message, it contained child sex abuse material.

The student reported it to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, and CU Boulder police were able to find out that the person in the video was now a student at CU Boulder.

The student told police the video had been taken when he was 13 or 14 and had been used to try and extort him for money. An investigation was launched into the incident in 2017, but no charges were ever filed.

According to the affidavit, the student found out that the video was being recirculated on SnapChat starting in late February 2022.

CU Boulder police were able to track the account to Brauchli. Brauchli told police she knew the victim from high school, and remembered when the video first circulated at that time.

Brauchli denied recirculating the video, and said she had dropped the class in which the video was airdropped in March.

But police were able to match the activity with Brauchli's wifi login information, and also confirmed she was in the class in which a student reported receiving the airdrop.

When confronted with this information, Brauchli refused to speak further with police.