Taylor County grand jury indicts 4 on unrelated child sex crimes
The Taylor County grand jury Thursday indicted three men and one woman on unrelated sexual crimes involving children.
One man is accused of posing as a 15-year-old girl to lure a male teenager to meet for sex.
The three other cases involved a man allegedly raping a babysitter at Dyess Air Force Base, a man soliciting a teenager for sex and a woman who engaged in sexual contact with an underaged male living at her residence.
Pretending to be a girl
Slade Dean King, who was 31 at the time of his arrest April 15, was indicted on a charge of sexual assault of a child.
According to a court document, King is accused of using Snapchat to send to the victim photos and videos to appear to be a teenaged girl. He asked the victim to send nude photos in return. King also told the victim he was in high school.
At the invitation of the "girl," the victim and a friend went to a residence to meet "her." They went inside the house and saw in front of a doorway a hanging sheet with a hole in the middle of it, the document said.
The victim received a text from King posing as the girl and instructing him to place his penis in the hole. The victim asked out loud for the person behind the sheet to speak. When he didn't hear an answer, the victim and friend left, the document said.
The victim and two friends returned to the residence two days later to see the sheet again hanging inside a doorway in the house. Following sexual contact through the hole in the sheet, the victim asked the person to speak and heard a man's voice. The victim pulled down the sheet and saw a man, the document said.
After running from the house, the victim called police, who interviewed King at the residence on the day of the alleged sexual assault. The victim identified King as the man behind the sheet, the document said.
Two days after his arrest, King was released from the Taylor County Jail on a $35,000 bond, according to online jail records.
Assault of babysitter
Eleno Silva III was indicted on one count of sexual assault of a child after a teenager made an outcry and was examined at a hospital.
The victim told police she was hired to watch the children of the suspect and his wife April 15-16 at their residence at the Air Force base. On the second day, after the wife left the residence, Silva allegedly made sexual jokes with the victim and wrestled with her, the document said.
The wrestling led to Silva sexually assaulting the victim twice, the document said.
During the investigation, police obtained a phone recording of the victim talking with the suspect, who allegedly corroborated the sexual assault, the document said.
Silva was arrested April 25 and released the next day on a $30,000 bond, according to jail records.
Teen offered money for sex
Joseph Bertelson was indicted on one count of online solicitation of a minor after allegedly offering a teenager different amounts of money for various sexual favors, according to a court document.
The suspect made contact with the victim via Snapchat, the document stated.
During an interview with police, the suspect allegedly admitted to talking with the victim about sex and buying nude photos from girls of all ages, the document said.
Jail records indicate Bertelson was arrested Feb. 25 and released the next day on bonds totaling $30,000.
Woman accused of sexual contact with teen
Emily Allen was indicted on three counts of sexual assault of a child after allegedly sleeping in the same bed with a 16-year-old male who lived with her for a week in the summer of 2021, according to a court document.
She was 22 at the time of the incident, the document stated.
The victim and suspect met through an older relative of the victim. The woman and teen talked and texted over social media prior to the teen staying with the woman, the document stated.
According to online jail records, Allen was arrested April 26 and released the next day on a $10,000 bond.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Grand jury indicts 3 men, 1 woman on unrelated child sex crimes
