Former EC resident sentenced to 18 years for child sexual assault

SUMMIT COUNTY, CO — Craig Sikorsky, 51, of Dillon, Colo., was sentenced July 27 to a total of 18 years in the Department of Corrections for two charges: sexual exploitation of a child, a class-4 felony, to which he pleaded guilty Jan. 13; and attempted sexual assault of a child, a class-5 felony, to which he pleaded guilty June 15, according to a press release from the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office representing Summit County, Colo. Colorado officials requested that this newspaper print this release as Sikorsky previously lived in Verona, Cedar Grove and Whippany, and officials hope this release could bring N.J. victims forward.

As part of the plea, Sikorsky admitted to luring a neighbor child under the guise of paying the child to walk his dogs in 2019. After one incident, the child cried out to his father and Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Sikorsky. 

Sikorsky, who was a local business owner of Jersey Boys pizza restaurant in Dillon, Colo., garnered local and regional media attention from the arrest. Because of the coverage, two others, who are now adults, came forward to report that the defendant had done similar things to them some 20-plus years earlier in the mid-1990s when they were youthful neighbors of the defendant in Dillon. The children remembered Sikorsky coming over to their trampoline and touching them inappropriately. 

“Innocence lost is tough to regain but what these youngsters experienced is a lesson to all of us to be vigilant in protecting our kids and believing when they tell of being harmed,” Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said. “To bring justice in this case was a collaborative effort, not only by our detectives, but also the media who reported on an important case and facilitated the discovery and prosecution for other victims.”

  Arrests, Sentencing