Former CPS Investigator to stand trial in child sexual assault case next week
Next week, Slade Dean King will stand trial in the 350th District Court of the Taylor County Courthouse. A jury of his peers will decide whether or not he is guilty of the sexual assault of a child.
King stands accused of second-degree sexual assault of a child, under 17 years old.
Childhood protective services investigator or predator?
According to documents obtained by Reporter-News, Slade was a confirmed employee of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) for a little over nine years. He worked as a Childhood Protective Services (CPS) investigator, with the investigations unit from March 5, 2012, through June 1, 2021.
According to Taylor County criminal records, he has no prior felony charges or indictments before the current charges that he is facing.
It remains to be seen if there are more victims who will come forward.
If you wish to report any abuse to DFPS, whether by name or anonymously, please call 1-800-252-5400, or visit the website here.
Alleged contact through Snapchat
According to Taylor County court documents, a 15-year-old male victim came forward to speak with police in 2022. He reported that an unknown person contacted him on Snapchat on or about April 10, 2022. King allegedly posed as a 15-year-old girl in high school and began talking to that victim.
On April 15, 2022, King allegedly lured the boy to an apartment within Taylor County. The victim arrived with two friends. King then allegedly performed an illicit act on the 15-year-old victim, who then discovered it was a man and not a 15-year-old girl in high school.
The victim subsequently called the police and "identified Slade King as the man" when the police were at King's residence. King was then arrested by police that same day. King was 31 at the time of his arrest.
He bailed out of jail two days later on a $35,000 bond, according to Taylor County Jail Records. Per his bond conditions read to him on April 16, 2022, "King was prohibited from using any form of social media."
Defendant allegedly attempts another child assault
According to court documents, just two days after King bailed out of the Taylor County Jail, he intentionally and knowingly violated a bond condition "related to the safety of a victim or the safety of the community."
According to court documents, one of the victims' friends received a Snapchat message after King's initial release from jail. The message was from the account "Slade King used during the sexual assault."
That friend did not open the message, and instead took his phone to Officer Wooden, a cyber detective within the Abilene Police Department. Wooden then posed as the friend and began to chat with King.
During the conversation with the detective on June 3, 2022, King allegedly attempted "the same scheme he used in the original case and was violating the condition of his bond."
King was subsequently arrested on November 9, 2022. His bond was set to $2,000 and he bailed out the same day. He was then charged with a misdemeanor offense of "Class A violation of bond conditions" on November 14, 2022.
King remains out on bond as he awaits his jury trial which begins March 4, in the 350th District Court.
Possible 20 years behind bars
According to Assistant District Attorney Erin Stamey, King faces 2-20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine if convicted of the second-degree felony of sexual assault of a child. If he is convicted of that felony sexual assault, “he would have to register as a sex offender for life.”
For the Class A violation, he faces 365 days in jail, without a minimum, and up to a $4,000 fine if convicted of that misdemeanor.
All suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Tips to protect your children from online predators
Reporter-News spoke with Sergeant Mike Moschetto of the Abilene Police Department's Special Investigations Bureau to find out some tips to protect your children from online predators.
If possible, delay giving your child a smartphone and do not allow them to use social media.
Use Mobile Device Manager software to access and monitor their phones (paid service, for example; Bark).
Use Life 360 to monitor their current and location history. Note: kids can work around this by turning their phones to airplane mode or disabling location services.
If you allow them to have social media accounts, the parent should also get an account and be friends with their child in the app.
Parents should routinely go into their child's phone and manually look through their texts, social media apps, and pictures. Please keep in mind the hidden folders.
Children should not use Snapchat or TikTok. These can be extremely harmful to kids.
Have conversations with your children about taking selfies and sharing them. Those pictures have metadata and backgrounds that give information about your child to the public.
Limit the amount of screen time on a cellphone. Utilize the screen time option to limit when the phone can be used for social media. Outside the screen time window, you can set parameters to allow for phone calls from only authorized numbers.
In 2023 alone, the Abilene Police Department Cyber Crimes Unit investigated 146 cases involving Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Many of those uploads were self-produced by a child without solicitation.
Do not allow a child to have their phone in their bedroom overnight.
Disabling the wi-fi in the household overnight can discourage the use of electronic devices.
A child should not expect privacy if they are posting on social media with thousands of others including online predators.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Former CPS Investigator to stand trial in child sexual assault case
