Police arrested the former manager of Sen. John McCain’s Pueblo presidential campaign offiThe manager for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign office in Pueblo, who also has been a Boy Scout leader and youth sponsor, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant for ****** assault on a child by a person in position of trust.
Jeffrey Claude Bartleson, 52, of the 2200 block of Cartier Drive, was being held in Pueblo County jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
According to an arrest affidavit by Pueblo police Detective Dan Anderson, Bartleson has been investigated at least five times for similar allegations since 1982, although never charged or convicted of a crime.
The alleged victims in each of the cases, including the new one, were juvenile boys who he invited to sleep at his house.
In the latest case, the victim said Bartleson told him "if he tells anyone about him touching him then he will murder him . . . (The victim) believed Jeff would kill him," the affidavit said.
The nine-page affidavit contained interviews with witnesses and possible victims that Bartleson encountered while he was a sponsor at Parkview's Chemical Dependency Unit.
The affidavit also noted the suspect befriended youths at King of Kings Lutheran Church. The affidavit said that Detective Anderson had recorded phone conversations between Bartleson and the latest victim's family members.
"There are similarities to all cases from 1982 to current," the court record said. "(Bartleson) usually is in a position where he is around children . . . Reports state (Bartleson) moves the boy from one bedroom to his bedroom . . . massages them or rubs their backs. Reports state (Bartleson) rubs the penises of the boys while rubbing his own."
The Pueblo County jail staff said Bartleson's listed occupation is political consultant. He managed McCain's Republican presidential campaign office here in the past presidential election.
In the affidavit, the victim describes Bartleson's facial features, his hair and eye color, that both of his ears were pierced and he was "wearing clothes the same as John McCain."ce Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy left in his care so the boy’s mother could attend a rally for McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The Denver Post’s Howard Pankratz reported Thursday afternoon.