COLORADO SPRINGS — A 49-year-old man faces sexual crimes against a child after he allegedly took a 14-year-old to a hotel and forced the boy to do sexual acts.
Anthony Lee Fruzia was arrested on March 13, 2022, in Denton, TX, for charges in Colorado Springs that stemmed from an incident at the end of December of 2021. His charges include sexual assault on a child by a person of trust and sexual assault on a child.
The victim reported what happened to him to Safe Passage, the children’s advocacy center for El Paso and Teller counties.
The father of the victim trusted Fruzia to let the boy stay with Fruzia for a night. Fruzia typically sees the victim once a year the victim’s father, James Logan, says he’s been friends with Fruzia for over 30 years.
“My son… he says, ‘Can I stay at the hotel?’ Because Tony booked a suite over at Antlers [hotel]. You know, Karen and I said, ‘Fine, no problem,'” Logan said.
Because of their friendship, Logan said he and his wife had no reason not to trust Fruzia.
According to the arrest affidavit, Fruzia asked the 14-year-old boy to sleep in the bed with him at the Antlers Hotel instead of the couch. Fruzia allegedly asked the victim to see his penis and then did sexual acts.
“He [my son] told me the night he stayed at the hotel with Tony that Tony molested him. More or less raped him,” Logan said.
During a recorded phone call where a detective was present, Anthony told the victim he thought it was “nice” that the victim allowed him to have sex with him since it had been ten years since he’d had sex with anyone. According to the arrest papers, when Anthony was asked what his sexual preference was by the boy, he said he preferred 13 years old through 20 years old, “but there are some occasional people that are younger.”
According to the victim’s father, Fruzia was a Boy Scouts leader in Lake Dallas, Texas for Troop 191. He was later blacklisted from the organization in the 1990s following abuse allegations.
Fruzia’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 21 at 1:30 p.m. He is currently out of jail on a $10,000 bond.
FOX21’s Rachel Saurer will have an update on this story at 9 p.m.