Man with machete sexually assaults hotel clerk, CO officials say. He’s sentenced
A man robbed a hotel while armed with a machete, then kidnapped and sexually assaulted the front desk clerk, Colorado prosecutors say.
Now, Khafre Buxton, 37, has been sentenced to 99 years to life in prison in connection to “a series of violent crimes” from 2020, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a June 18 news release.
“His egregious actions that preyed upon individuals working in our community warrant a lengthy prison sentence in the Department of Corrections,” District Attorney Amy Padden said in the release.
Buxton knocked on the door of a hotel in Aurora at about 3 a.m. Dec. 19, 2020, prosecutors said.
When the clerk let Buxton inside, “he pulled out a machete,” prosecutors said.
Buxton forced the clerk and a security guard into the back office, where he took money from a filing cabinet, prosecutors said.
Buxton kidnapped the clerk, driving away from the hotel with her inside his car, according to prosecutors.
He drove to a hardware store and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
After getting a report of a robbery at the hotel, Aurora police officers spotted Buxton’s car and pulled him over, according to prosecutors.
The woman was able to get out of the car and run toward officers, prosecutors said.
Buxton was arrested and booked into jail on multiple felonies, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Buxton of multiple charges, including second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery and first-degree burglary, after a week-long trial, prosecutors said.
“The defendant terrorized an innocent front desk clerk and a security guard who were doing nothing more than working their routine job that night,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Gallo said in the release. “Instead of taking cash and leaving, Mr. Buxton continued his crime spree by kidnapping the clerk and sexually assaulting her.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Man with machete sexually assaults hotel clerk, CO officials say. He’s sentenced."
