Police: Family who lost child in ice cream shop victimized again

AURORA - His parents already suffered an unthinkable loss when a car crash killed their 3-year-old son while they were getting ice cream. Now Aurora Police say someone else tried to cash in on the family's pain.

Marten Kudlis was killed Sept. 4 when a car crashed into a Baskin Robbins where he was getting ice cream with his family.

Aurora Police say Matthew William Keysacker reached out to the Kudlis family after the crash, wanting to raise money for the family.

"It's a common occurrence when you have a major tragedy in the community such as this one that folks reach out to the police department, they want to do something good for the family that's been harmed," Det. Bob Friel, spokesman for Aurora Police, said. "This is not uncommon and we were hoping something good could come out of this tragedy."

According to the arrest affidavit, Keysacker proposed holding a poker tournament to raise money. Keysacker runs the Web site called "Suited Aces." The site says its goal is to bring free poker to local venues. Police say the 30-year-old used the site to promote the fundraiser.

"In order to further his scheme, what he did was he used his Web site, posted pictures of Marten actually on that site, to build interest in the poker tournament and draw people to the event. So that is another element in this particular story," Friel said.

In early December, Keysacker partnered with Fuddruckers in Aurora.

"We thought it'd be a great way get involved and it sounded like a great cause," owner Mark Detwiler told 9NEWS.

"There was about 30 participants in the poker tournament, there was raffles for a dozen or so assorted prizes, there was auction items from the Denver Nuggets, autographed basketballs, lots of different businesses contributed to make this successful," Detwiler said.

The restaurant donated all proceeds from the card sales that day and a portion of the total sales during the event.

But in January, police learned the Kudlises never got any of the $3,455 raised during the event.

According to the arrest affidavit, "Mr. Kudlis stated he had spoken to the event coordinator, Keysacker, and was told that Keysacker's wife's credit card had been stolen and that they were having financial difficulty and did not have the funds to give to Mr. Kudlis."

"This has little to do with the money," Friel said. "It is very much about the principal of the matter and that is that a family that's already experienced tragedy is being taken advantage of and we felt that this is something that needed to be looked into and somebody needed to be held accountable for this. It's shocking to me that somebody would re-victimize the family after they've been through such a great tragedy."

Keysacker was arrested Monday night and booked into the Arapahoe County Detention Center. He's facing two felony charges, one theft by deception and computer crime. He is now out of jail after he posted his $6,000 bond Tuesday night.

"The police department [and] the district attorney's office are going to hold him accountable for what he did," Friel said.

9NEWS attempted to contact the Kudlis family about the matter, but was unable to reach them for comment.

Patricia Guntharp and Debra Serecky also died in the September crash. Guntharp was driving the pickup that crashed into the Baskin Robbins store.

Francis Hernandez is accused of speeding near the intersection of Havana Street and Mississippi Avenue prior to the crash. Investigators say Hernandez's Suburban collided with the pick up truck, causing the accident.

Hernandez is also suspected of being an illegal immigrant from Guatemala.

He goes on trial May 8.