The Huffington Post reports on the case of Kelly Ann Garcia, an English teacher in Houston, who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student she claimed to be mentoring at one point. The 29-year-old Garcia was charged with sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child after a months-long investigation. She posted a $60,000 bond and was ordered to stay away from the complainant.
The complainant was a student at Hastings High School when she met Garcia through a mutual friend. Investigators said that she and Garcia began to get close as the teacher would stay after school with her while she was working on a classroom project, and it wasn’t long after that when the alleged relationship escalated. However, as any dependable Houston, sex crimes lawyer could tell you, the age of consent in Texas is 17, which means any person below 17 cannot legally consent to sex with an adult. (The basic exception is when the accused is not more than three years older than the complainant.)
Texas considers sexual assault as a serious crime. Sexual assault is a type of crime that occurs when a person intentionally commits any of the prohibited sexual activities included in the state’s sexual assault laws. Sexual assault is typically a second-degree felony and carries a sentence of two to twenty years in a state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
In some cases, the charge can even be elevated to a first-degree felony. It is clear why any person charged with sexual assault is inclined to fight tooth and nail for a dismissal or an acquittal. People who think they have been wrongfully accused of sexual assault need leading sex crimes lawyers like the staff at Scheiner Law Group, P.C. to aggressively defend them in court.
Every year, thousands of people in Texas are accused of sex crimes – and not all of these accusations are accurate or even factual. If you are charged with this type of crime, the reputation you worked so hard for all your life can be destroyed in an instant. A good sex crime defense attorney can help you prevent your good name from being tainted by such scandals.
Going back to the Garcia case, it was the alleged complainant’s bragging to her friends about her sexual encounters led to Garcia’s downfall. One of the complainant’s friends to whom the defendant allegedly bragged then told the school administrator. When confronted, the complainant confirmed what allegedly happened but it is not clear whether the relationship even ended at that point.
While this was clearly not a case of forcible rape, the Texas age of consent law was apparently violated. If you’re facing a similar case, you would do well to consult a sex crime attorney before deciding to speak with police, school administrators or anyone else investigating the matter. Your future could very well depend on it.