Boulder DA dismisses sex assault case against former Shambhala teacher

Oct. 8—The Boulder County District Attorney's Office has dismissed the case against a former Shambhala teacher accused of sexually assaulting a girl he was mentoring after prosecutors said the named victim in the case decided not to testify.

William Karelis, 72, had been charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and was set for trial starting Monday.

But in a motion filed Wednesday, the Boulder District Attorney's Office moved to dismiss the case after the named victim in the case elected not to cooperate with a trial.

"The victim in this matter has been traumatized by the actions of the defendant and has made clear that she does not want the trial to proceed," the motion read. "She has communicated her position to us directly and through her own attorney. She has steadfastly refused to meet with the People since the filing of charges, due to trauma from this case."

The motion added, "Given the evidence in this case, the participation of the victim would be required to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Based on her wishes, the People are moving to dismiss this case."

Defense attorney Paul McCormick released a statement Thursday saying that Karelis "is an innocent man."

"From the beginning of this case and during of tenure of almost three years, it has been punctuated by numerous lies," the statement read. "We believe the more reasonable interpretation of the alleged victim's actions is that when she realized the jig was up and she would have to go to court and testify under penalty of perjury, panic set in, not panic engendered by Mr. Karelis, but panic in committing perjury."

According to prosecutors, Karelis met a girl through Shambhala in the 1990s, when Karelis was assigned to her as her meditation instructor. She was about 8.

Sometime around 2000 when the girl was about 13, the girl said Karelis sexually abused her multiple times while she stayed at his home for teachings.

Investigators did not become aware of the case until August 2018, when the named victim — now in her 30s — told a friend about the incident and the friend reported it to Boulder police.

But McCormick said a trial would have revealed problems with the woman's timeline, different stories told to the outcry witness and police and other inconsistencies in the evidence.

"To be clear, the defense disapproves of (Boulder County District Attorney Michael) Dougherty stating publicly that Mr. Karelis committed these crimes and traumatized the alleged victim," the statement read. "If Mr. Dougherty wants to ignore all of the above described weaknesses in his case and believes whatever subjectively, we apparently can't change his mind. The rub comes when he abuses his office and expresses those opinions when they couldn't be proven in court."

In the motion, the DA's Office defended the decision to file charges in the case.

"The Boulder Police Department properly and lawfully arrested the defendant, based on the defendant's actions and abuse of the victim," the motion read. "The Boulder Police Department had probable cause to arrest the defendant for these charges, as reflected by the Court's authorization of the arrest warrant."

The motion added, "The People support victims of crime, respect her courage in coming forward and will not risk revictimizing her by compelling her to be an unwilling participant over her stated and repeated objection based on the trauma inflicted upon her."

Karelis resigned from Shambhala in 2009. When he was arrested in February of 2019, Shambhala's board released a statement saying the organization had conducted two "Care and Conduct complaint procedures" in 2002 and 2008, initiated by women who alleged Karelis had behaved inappropriately toward them.

His teaching and meditation instructor credentials were suspended in 2004 and revoked in 2008 after he failed to comply with the Care and Conduct procedure, according to Shambhala.

But in his statement, McCormick said the press release "was for Shambhala, already under attack, to circle the wagons and distance itself from Mr. Karelis."

"The press release clearly implied that Mr. Karelis was found to have committed the inappropriate behavior and was sanctioned for his conduct," the statement read. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Both the prosecution and the defense in this case talked to the person who was in charge of that investigation and who was then the president of Shambhala International. He firmly stated that no conclusion was reached with regard to the investigation and that no sanctions or punishments were levied against Mr. Karelis."

McCormick ended his statement by saying, "Mr. Karelis has received great harm at the hands of the alleged victim, the criminal justice system and the Shambhala community. He is owed a lot of apologies, but most likely will never receive them."

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