Accused of possessing sexual assault videos of minors, now terminated Colorado State Patrol Trooper Luke Zellman took a deep breath before approaching the podium inside an El Paso County courthouse.

Zellman, 42, appeared in court Thursday to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to his charges of sexual exploitation of a child, but his arraignment hearing was postponed for a third time.

The State Patrol trooper was placed on administrative leave after his arrest Sept. 10. He was later terminated Nov. 24, according to Trooper Sherri Mendez, a State Patrol spokesperson.

Mendez was unable to discuss specifics about Zellman’s termination.

The Gazette reached out to Zellman’s lawyer, Ted McClintock, but did not hear back.

According to his arrest papers, Colorado Springs police found two videos containing child sexual abuse material on a cloud storage service under Zellman’s account.

The storage service, Synchronoss Technologies, Inc., first found the alleged videos on two separate occasions: once in December 2024 and again in February 2025. Both were allegedly linked to Zellman’s IP address and phone number, and showed the sexual assault of a child. The videos were found inside a quarantined folder in the cloud service.

The Colorado Springs detective who wrote the affidavit suggests that Zellman could have found the videos through online websites or through offenders via shared drives and links. The detective notes it’s a “common” occurrence for offenders to share files and links with each other.

Zellman is facing 13 charges related to child sexual exploitation, court records show. He posted his $25,000 bond days after his arrest.

His final arraignment hearing is scheduled for the morning of April 2. His plea will decide the next steps for his case.

Zellman initially joined the State Patrol’s office in Steamboat Springs in 2014, according to a news release issued by the agency after his arrest. He was transferred to the Colorado Springs office in September 2017.

Not much is known about Zellman or his time as a trooper. No apparent family members joined Zellman in court Thursday, although public records and his arrest papers indicate he has a wife and children.