A plea deal has been delayed again for the Jeffco Public Schools counselor who allegedly started a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.

Chloe Castro appeared in a Jefferson County District Court room in front of Judge Diego Hunt on Tuesday afternoon. Her defense attorney, Marshall Breit, noted that Castro would likely take a plea deal involving a charge of sexual assault on a child in a position of trust, but hold ups on her medications have delayed finalization of the deal.

Breit claimed that Castro is on around 10 medications that cannot be stopped without weaning. He is attempting to get Castro off of the medications or make sure the jail has them before she is sentenced.

If Castro accepts the deal, she would be sentenced to four to 12 years in prison and a possible lifetime of probation, according to Deputy District Attorney Tyra Forbes.

“I do think (the case) will plead, and I think it’s in the best interest of the child that it pleads,” Forbes said. “The numerous continuances have played a toll on the family.”

The postponement marks the second plea deal delay, with the pretrial conference originally set to occur back in December.

The victim’s mother, Lia Flynn, is frustrated — both by the system as a whole and the outcome of the court process that has stretched beyond a year. To her, probation or a few years in prison is not enough.

“This has led to lifelong issues and lifelong therapy. This isn’t something that just heals,” Flynn told The Denver Gazette in November.

‘DISGUSTING, TO SAY THE LEAST’

Castro worked as a social worker at Manning Middle School, Drake Middle School and Wheat Ridge High School since August 2024, according to Jeffco Public Schools.

Before that, Castro worked at Three Creeks K-8 as a school social worker from Jan. 4, 2022 to May 13, 2024, and at Columbine Hills and Leawood Elementary schools as a social-emotional learning specialist from Aug. 3, 2021 to Jan. 4, 2022.

Castro had worked as the boy’s counselor during middle school, helping run his Individualized Education Program (IEP), a personalized learning program for those with learning disabilities.

“It was a lot of lying. It was a lot of acting like she was helping me,” Flynn said of the counselor-parent relationship. “Throughout all of these hearings, I haven’t been able to look over at her yet because I had sat in front of her for so long.”

Flynn and her husband found “countless” social media messages between their son and Castro on Oct. 29, 2024. She was in the child’s phone as the name of a youth pastor, skirting past the parents’ attention.

Flynn described what they found as “disgusting, to say the least.”

The communication between the counselor and child stretched back two years, when the victim was 12 years old.

The family immediately contacted the Arvada Police Department, starting an excruciating process that’s still ongoing.

According to arrest records, Castro told the boy they couldn’t have sex until he turned 18 but there was cuddling, kissing and police found nude photos on Castro’s phone. The alleged victim also told investigators that he and Castro shared nude photographs and intimately touched each other in Castro’s school office.

Castro was married with a stepchild at the time and claimed that the relationship started in 2024.

Castro, then 28, was arrested on Nov. 6, 2024, but the process was pushed back until the official plea agreement over a year later, including multiple hearings, mental evaluations and a not-guilty plea in August.

ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Flynn was impressed with the immediate response by both the Arvada Police Department and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office at first, with the duo moving on the case immediately the evening the family reported it. Forensic interviews began the next morning.

But the court system slowed the case down to a snail’s pace, dragging out the pain, Flynn said.

“There are a lot of factors and considerations that went into this deal,” Breit said Tuesday.

Breit added that Castro’s mental health treatment, and success throughout said treatment, has been part of the delay, with the defense not wanting to lose progress when Castro is sentenced.

Attorneys also pointed out the pain that a trial could cause for the already damaged family, Flynn added.

“They said that a trial can rip your family apart. The defense is going to make you look like terrible parents just to win. Like, he just needed attention and found it elsewhere.”

That concept remains tough for the Flynn family — both parents have been in Jefferson County their entire lives.

“If she gets off on probation, I feel like I have to move. If I go to trial and get our names dragged through the mud, we’ve got to move. We’re the victims. That’s not fair,” Flynn added.

Both Flynn and a student advocacy group, Jeffco Kids First, told The Denver Gazette that the district was involved in a previous settlement with Castro and another family.

MOVING FORWARD

Castro is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 2. If a deal is not agreed upon, the case will go to trial.

The victim, along with his siblings, will remain in Jeffco Public Schools despite hesitation from their mother.

“All of the administration is helpful, but I’m scared of their helpfulness. And I have three children still going through the system,” she said.

There’s also been a shadow cast over the district over the past two years — part of which directly stemmed from Castro’s case.

It was one of seven sexual misconduct-related incidents throughout the district since the end of 2023, including an investigation into David Weiss, the school district’s former chief of schools, that involved possession of child sexual assault material in December 2024.

Former Jeffco paraprofessional Imagine Kay Ewer has been the only case to be sentenced as of Tuesday. She received four years in prison after pleading guilty to counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sexual assault on a child by an individual in a position of trust last January.

Flynn hopes that Castro’s case will raise a fire under parents, especially with other similar Jeffco cases yet to be resolved.

“If (Castro) gets off, what are the next defendants going to get? This case stands to show what’s going to happen in the other cases. This isn’t OK,” she said. “This isn’t good enough.”