Nederland veterinarian ‘Doc Joe’ charged with sexually assaulting girl, then 15, in 2011

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. – A well-known Nederland veterinarian faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl who worked for and lived with him in 2011 when she was just 15 years old.

Joseph Evans, 67, better known to Boulder County residents as “Doc Joe,” is charged with one count of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.

Evans turned himself into police on Monday, three days after the warrant was issued. He was officially charged Wednesday and is out of jail after posting a $5,000 bond.

The investigation into Evans’ alleged misconduct started in November, when the victim tried to file a restraining order against Evans. As part of the background for the order, the victim told the Boulder District Attorney’s Office that Evans had sexually assaulted her while she was living with him in fall 2011.

The victim said she had started working for Evans after he performed surgery on her dog that she could not pay for at the time. The affidavit says Evans agreed to let her work the charges off. Once she had done so, after working at his clinic after school for some time, he hired her and paid her under the table.

The girl’s mother was experiencing marital troubles, and eventually left for more than a month to Costa Rica. It was then that the girl started living with Evans. She told the chief investigator at the district attorney’s office that “she was always indebted to [Evans].”

Evans was married at the time but was going through marital trouble himself. Though he was a counselor for Alcoholics Anonymous, the affidavit says Evans was using prescription drugs and Ketamine.

The affidavit says the girl would get scared of Evans during his alleged drug-induced episodes and briefly moved in with a friend when her mother went to Iowa after Costa Rica. However, she couldn’t stay with the friend for long and eventually moved back in with Evans.

Sometime in fall 2011, Evans invited her up to his room to watch a movie. It was then that the alleged assault occurred.

He felt her breasts and eventually her genitals before performing oral sex on her, according to the affidavit. The girl said Evans was “messed up and had done some drugs” and that she was “’just lying there, not saying anything’ because she did not know what to do,” according to the affidavit.

At some point, she said she grew “totally disgusted” and got up and told her to stop. He told her to never tell anyone about the incident, which she agreed to, according to the affidavit.

But the girl told a friend, and other locals had told the girl’s mom “something was not right” with the relationship between Evans and the girl. She eventually told her mother as well.

He had told her he would leave her his home and ranch when he passed away, which worried some in the community who already thought his relationship with the girl was questionable, according to the affidavit.

The girl worked for Evans and lived there on and off until she graduated high school in 2014 and moved to Arkansas, where she got into trouble for drug possession and moved back to clean up.

Her mother and siblings were living in a cabin in Eldora but were forced out because the owner was selling it, making the girl and her family homeless.

Evans let them put their belongings in his home, and the girl moved back in with him. Her mother joined them after another brief stint in Iowa.

But his demeanor changed when the girl got a boyfriend, who would at times stay at Evans’ house with her. He grew wary of their relationship and some of the requests Evans made, according to the affidavit.

He eventually started requesting more and more money from the girl and her mother, and the affidavit says the girl’s getting a boyfriend “really hurt him and upset him.”

In an interview with the district attorney’s office, the boyfriend said the girl and her mother “were totally dependent upon [Evans].”

In November, the district attorney’s office investigators got a hold of text messages referring to the alleged assault in addition to the girl’s testimony, and an arrest warrant was drafted.

The affidavit says Evans has no prior criminal history.

The Boulder District Attorney’s Office is asking anyone with knowledge of the case to call Investigator Jane Harmer at 303-441-4779.