Parents Set Up a Secret Camera to Document Brain-Injured Daughter’s Progress, but End Up Capturing Unthinkable Crime on Video

A Denver family had no idea that the footage captured by the secret camera they set up to document their brain-injured daughter’s progress would one day be used as evidence in a disturbing sex crime case.

Police arrested 34-year-old Paul Bugarcic for allegedly sexually assaulting Julie Henson, who suffered a serious brain injury in 2011.

The suspect reportedly pleaded guilty to sexual assault and kidnapping charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this month. He will also have to undergo five years of sex offender probation following his prison term.

Paul Bugarcic (credit: Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office/CBS Denver)

After the Henson family reviewed hours of recorded footage, they found several instances of sexual assault committed on their child. The family was devastated as they reportedly knew and trusted Bugarcic, a nursing assistant at Cherry Hills Health Care Center.

“I watched it and I went, ‘No,’” Debbie Henson, Julie’s mother, told CBS Denver.

Julie reportedly fell and hit her head after a co-worker pulled a chair out from underneath her at work in 2011. She later experienced painful headaches, which led to brain swelling and a cyst being found in her brain. Her situation deteriorated to the point that she can no longer walk, talk or communicate with others well.

Debbie Henson said it’s like she’s “trapped in her body.”

“She couldn’t even fight back, she couldn’t say (anything),” Julie’s dad said of the sexual assault. The family also said the abuse Julie suffered has set her progress back roughly a year.

“We are just hoping one day she will come back around,” the dad said.

For more on the story, watch the video report below: