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Wednesday morning in a Maricopa County Superior Court room, one of the Valley’s prominent coffee figures was sentenced to a year in prison for attempting to sex traffic a minor. Randall Denton, the owner of the downtown Phoenix coffee shop Xanadu Coffee Company, had pleaded guilty in January.
The 42-year-old Denton also received lifetime supervised probation and will have to register as a sex offender for the offense, which did not involve an actual minor.
Denton has been a mainstay of Phoenix’s coffee scene for decades. In the late 2000s, he started Xanadu as a roaster and wholesaler before teaming up with former Xanadu co-owner Jessica Bueno in 2016. The duo opened up a physical Xanadu location on 7th Street in downtown Phoenix in October 2020.
Denton and his attorney, Belen Olmedo Guerra, initially promised to grant an interview to Phoenix New Times after his sentencing. In the days leading up to the hearing, Olmedo Guerra stopped returning calls. When approached by a reporter after the hearing, Olmedo Guerra declined to comment.
A year to the day before his sentencing, Denton responded to an ad on a website known for “commercial sexual interactions,” according to the police report. The ad purported to be of an 18-year-old woman and included photos that the report said were actually digitally de-aged shots of a police officer involved in the case.
Per the incident report, Denton asked the woman to meet up. Via text, the woman shared her fees — “150$bj 250$fs” — and told him she was 14 years old.
A printout of their text conversation included in the police report showed the age revelation gave Denton momentary pause.
“Are you affiliated with law enforcement?” he asked.
“nooo r u?” she replied.
“I’m thinking on it. Seems kind of risky lol,” Denton replied.
He quickly overcame his reservations.
“Hm. Ok. I’ll do it. $250 it is,” he texted, informing the girl he’d meet her in Surprise in 40 minutes.
When Denton arrived outside the Crossroads Towne Center strip mall, Surprise police officers arrested him. Police said he was carrying $250 in cash and a condom. When police called the number that had been communicating with the “girl,” Denton’s phone rang.
Denton was charged with attempted sex trafficking of a minor and an attempt to commit sexual conduct with a minor, both class 3 felonies. The latter charge was dropped in January after he struck a plea agreement.
Denton appeared before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret LaBianca on Wednesday to be sentenced, wearing a loose, dark green hoodie, skinny gray jeans and sneakers.
Olmedo Guerra emphasized to LaBianca that Denton had endured a difficult childhood.
He’d been born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, was a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 3, split time between divorced parents in two different states and experienced bullying related to financial struggles, the lawyer said. She also shared that Denton was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and has anxiety, depression and a panic disorder, for which he has sought therapy.
Then Denton spoke, thanking LaBianca and the county prosecutor.
“This is scary but I have the support from my family and friends,” Denton said, choking up and wiping away tears. “And I’m ready to go through.”
None of Denton’s friends or family were in the courtroom.
LaBianca told him that “the nature of this crime is taken very seriously by the state and the legislature,” but said Denton’s time in college at Arizona State University and as a business owner suggested that he’d be an "excellent candidate for probation.” Denton then picked up his black hat and various papers and was escorted by sheriff’s deputies to another room, where waved goodbye to Olmedo Guerra.
Sketchy stings?
The state does take crimes like Denton’s seriously. Indeed, Denton was initially charged with sex trafficking of a minor under 15 years old, a class 2 felony that now carries a mandatory life sentence after Arizona passed Proposition 313 last year. The charge was dismissed after a grand jury indicted him on other charges.But advocates for reforming sex crime laws have a hard time getting around the circumstances of Denton’s arrest. For many caught up in sting operations like the one that ensnared Denton, they say, the victim is purely theoretical.
Bonnie Burkhardt, an expert witness and the author of Manufacturing Criminals, which is about sketchy tactics used by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, called these types of sting operations “a direct violation of the law” due to illegal electronic surveillance, impersonation and computer fraud.
“There’s a ton of crimes that have been committed (by police) here,” Burkhardt told Phoenix New Times.
Brenda Jones, the executive director of the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws, said Denton was "severely" sentenced for "what sounds like more of a meet up than a trafficking situation."
"The fact that it wasn't actually even a minor and was a sting, you'd think that would make a difference," she said. "If somebody is caught in a sting and they show up, the assumption (by law enforcement) is that they would follow through. So that tends to be the basis on which people get arrested."
It’s unclear what will become of Xanadu while Denton is in prison. A message sent to the company’s contact email has not been returned. The company has not acknowledged Denton’s arrest and sentencing on its social media channels.
Bueno, who could not be reached for comment, stepped away from the business in January 2022, according to her LinkedIn. She’s currently the school board president of Phoenix Elementary School District #1 and reiterated during a recent school board meeting that she’s no longer involved in Xanadu. Parents had criticized the board’s decision to end the lease with ASU Preparatory Academy due to the academy’s proximity to Xanadu.
Maricopa County Assessor’s records show that Lofi Provisions LLC, of which Denton is the statutory agent, purchased the property Xanadu has been renting earlier this year for a value of $2 million. Preethy Kaibara, the managing member of the company that rented and then sold the property to Xanadu, did not return a message seeking comment.
