Sexual Offenses

SMU's Sexual Assault Task Force Recommends Keeping Controversial Student Conduct Panels

Prosecutors recently dropped charges in one of the high-profile cases that spurred SMU to take a long look at its often baffling handling of sexual assaults. Last night, a week-and-a-half before another student is set to go to trial on charges that he raped a classmate in a dorm room, the university ... More >>

With Lake Highlands Rape Suspect Cleared by DNA, Police Investigation Back to Square One

Speaking to reporters yesterday afternoon, Dallas Police Chief David Brown expressed confidence that the department had already solved the first of a string of three Lake Highlands rapes. The suspect was Fernando Munoz, 33, who police believed had broken into a Ferndale Road home in the early hours ... More >>

Nearly Four Years Later, Dallas Police Track Down a Suspected Child Rapist in Mexico

In late 2008 and early 2009, the Five Points area was put on edge by the news that two girls there, one 12, the other 14, had been bound with tape and sexually assaulted by a suspected serial rapist. Detectives, after combing through police calls and incident reports, zeroed in on one describing an ... More >>

Former Ellis County Observer Publisher Joey Dauben Gets Three Ten-Year Sentences For Sexual Assault and Indecency With a Child

Two years ago, Joey Dauben was full-time small-town muckraker, publishing the Ellis County Observer and a string of other small papers, blending investigative stories with vicious gossip and baseless speculation at a rate of speed that thrilled and enraged his target audience. He focused intensely o ... More >>

A Garland High School Teacher Pleaded Guilty Yesterday to Videotaping Himself Having Sex With Four Students

On May 22, Garland police raided the home of Willis Bassham, a 40-year-old social studies teacher at Garland High School, and seized his cell phone and several computers. Stored there were sexually explicit photos and videos of at least four female students. One, who was 17 at the time, was shown i ... More >>

Considered a Sex Offender Since He Was 12, a Plano Man is Finally Freed from the Registry

In May, the Texas Observer profiled Josh Gravens, a 25-year-old Plano man struggling to find a job and otherwise coping with life on the Texas Department of Public Safety's sex offender registry. His crime? Molesting his 8-year-old sister -- when he was 12. Gravens's case illustrates a flaw in the ... More >>

A Highland Park Student is Charged with Rape, and Culture Map Kicks Off the Victim Blaming

On Tuesday, Ryan Adam Romo, an 18-year-old Highland Park High School senior and star baseball player, was charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. Romo is accused of raping a HPHS classmate after a Ghostland Observatory concert at the Palladium Ballroom Saturday night. Given ... More >>

SMU's Baffling Sexual Assault Policy May Be Like Other Schools', But It's Still a Disaster

Last night, SMU's Daily Campus reported that university police released a crime report to students, informing them that a female SMU student was sexually assaulted at an apartment off-campus by a male acquaintance, also an SMU student. The assault took place on Friday, October 5 in the 3400 block of ... More >>

Walk Like a Woman

Why Do Mexicans Rape So Much?

And why do they always yell "Cu-le-ro" at bands they love?

Crime Keeps Going Down in Dallas, Except for Rape. But There's an Explanation for That.

There was some good news in the crime statistics presented to the City Council's Public Safety Committee a few moments ago. Burglaries, the bane of the Dallas Police Department in recent years, are down by double-digits thanks to ongoing efforts to shut down fencing operations through which thieves ... More >>

How Rape Victims Cope When Their Alleged Attackers Are Exonerated

Debbie Jones spent decades coming to grips with the fact Thomas McGowan raped her. Then she found out he didn't.

In the Boy Scouts' Police-in-Training Program, a History of Abuse

Dozens of teenage Explorers have been sexually assaulted by the cops they hoped to emulate.

DPD: Man Guilty of One Sexual Assault Responsible For Another at Occupy Dallas Site

Dallas County SheriffRichard Armstrong​One week ago we got Occupy Dallas's side of the story concerning the sexual assault that took place at its encampment behind Dallas City Hall. Today, we get the official version from the Dallas Police Department, which is reporting that it has arrested Ri ... More >>

Prosecutors Accused Hilliard Fields of Rape With Zero Evidence. Now, His Name is Cleared.

Hilliard Fields stands outside the courtroom with his lawyer, Gary Udashen.​In the end, it only took minutes for Judge Larry Mitchell to clear Hilliard Fields of the sexual assault charges that have followed him for the last 14 years."Sir, I'm very sorry for the misery this has caused you in your ... More >>

City Council to Vote on Ordinance Keeping Registered Sex Offenders From Living Together

​Shame there's no one at Dallas City Hall till Monday, because this just popped up on the year-ending December 8 council agenda: an ordinance that will "prohibit multiple registered sex offenders from residing in the same dwelling unit, with certain defenses." Says the agenda, the council first di ... More >>

Presbyterian Announces $2-Million Grant Increasing Resources For Dallas Rape Victims

Photos by Andrea GrimesCourtney Underwood introduces Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins at today's SANE press conference. Underwood credits Watkins's support of her cause with the implementation of the sexual assault treatment program at Presbyterian.​Dallas has long been one of the mos ... More >>

Dallas PD: Sexual Assault Cold Cases Will Be Reopened Only With Victims' Involvement

​Victims of unsolved sexual assaults committed prior to 1996 will now need to contact the Dallas Police Department should they wish for DNA analysis to be conducted in hopes of identifying their attackers. In a press release sent out today in advance of an afternoon press conference with Deputy Ch ... More >>

Jasso on DPD's Sexual Assault Awareness Campaign: "This Is Not a Victims-Only Issue"

One of several posters DPD sent today as part of its new Sexual Assault Prevention Campaign​Led by Councilwoman Delia Jasso, a group of sexual assault resource centers and the Dallas Police Department held a press conference today at City Hall announcing the sexual assault awareness campaign that' ... More >>

Dallas Police Department Outlines Strategies to Combat 25-Percent "Spike" in Sexual Assaults

​I know where Andrea'll be tomorrow at noon: In the Flag Room at Dallas City Hall, where council member Delia Jasso will be joined by members of the Dallas Police Department and local rape-victims advocacy and support groups to announce the kickoff of what DPD's calling a "Sexual Assault Awareness ... More >>

Trying to Understand What Led to DPD Chief's Comments About Drinking and Date Rape

Illustration by Andrea Grimes​Update at 8:35 p.m.: The Dallas Police Department has sent a statement from Chief David Brown regarding his comments about the increase in the number of reported sexual assaults this year -- and the reaction to them. It reads, in full:Chief Brown wants to emphasize, " ... More >>

Is Suspected Sex Abuse Underreported in the Mexican Communty?

SMU Insists It's Not Hiding Sexual Assault Statistics

Daily Campus Discovers SMU Officials Were Mum About '06 Rape Increases

If Anand Jon Comes Back to Dallas, He Might Not Be Leaving

¡Ask a Mexican!

See, We're Not the Only Ones Writing About Sherman Allen

Penal Colonies?

Letters

Stuck in Squalor Numbers Racket Sex Crime Myths

Letters

The Scarlet "S" Truthful, Not Savage

Death for a Killer

Plus: Off the List, Maybe

Tax Dollars at Work

Hey, armed robbers need bullets, too!

Jailbait

Frank Rodriguez faces a lifetime on Texas’ sex offender registry for having sex with a 16-year-old—who is now his wife. He’s not alone.

The Dorm From Hell

Black mold, broken toilets and leaking ceilings can make life miserable at UTD's Waterview Park. Then there's the crime.

Go Greyhound

Federal security team gets the wrong man

American Sex Tourist

Caught in the act of molesting young boys in Thailand, Coppell businessman Nicholas Bredimus came up with a last-ditch defense: obstruct justice

Likely Suspect

Three years after his conviction for rape, local DJ Gary "Babyfase" Faison speaks out to proclaim his innocence. What are the odds he's right? One in 300 million.

The Gay Priest Thing

The conference of bishops ignored "the elephant in the sacristy"

Letters

Rhymes with Asso, Ready to Rumble, Not a Pedophile

Letters

Sex Offenders

Hello, My Name is Pervert

Outcasts among us, sex offenders struggle to find treatment and lead normal lives in a justice system that gives them little of either

Cult of Madness

Seeking help for depression, Martha Hurt turned to therapists. That's when her insanity truly began.

Surfing for convicts

Texans will soon have access to statewide criminal convictions via the Internet--maybe

No joke

County Commissioner Ken Mayfield isn't laughing anymore about sexual harassment charges

Payback Time

How two hacked-off Cowboys scored on Channel 5 and Marty Griffin

Bad business

A&M Records VP accused of rape during Texas trip

Letters

The lies that BIND

A Dallas jury is forced to sift through the wreckage of a family destroyed by the infamous Norplant rape case

A Minor Affair

When young love ended in a rape allegation, the juvenile justice system left a Dallas teen's life in limbo.

'Tell Mama Why You Cry' (Part II)

Sam Krasniqi was acquitted of sexual abuse. So why won't the state let two children have their parents - or their religion?