BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas – A Brazoria County Junior High School student, 13, has been arrested and is facing a felony sex charge following an incident on a school bus, Channel 2 has learned.
"We are pursuing a juvenile charge of indecency by contact. There may be other victims and more charges." Jeri Yenne, Brazoria County District Attorney, said by phone Friday.
Citing the ages of those involved, Yenne declined to identify the student suspect or potential victims. But a source close to the investigation told Channel 2 Investigates, one alleged victim is an elementary school student, 5, who was riding home on the school bus when she was assaulted by the teen.
There appears to be additional young female victims who were on the same bus ride, the source said.
The suspect was arrested following the March 22 incident and has been released with certain conditions, including monitoring, Yenne said.
The student, 13, has been barred from attending Sweeny Junior High School while the case is pending.
Some parents with students at Sweeny Junior High School voiced concerns that they were not notified about the incident.
"I knew nothing about it," Melissa Gutierrez, a mother of three, said.
But parents with students riding on the bus where the incident allegedly happened appeared to be notified by letter last week.
We tried to inquire further about the matter and, specifically, the notification process with the Sweeny Independent School District superintendent, but his secretary said the school district would make no further statements about the matter on Friday.
Superintendent Randy Miksch did email Channel 2 Friday with the following statement:
“This is a serious incident that took place, and it was treated very seriously. Once we became aware of it, the District took immediate action by thoroughly investigating, then getting law enforcement involved in a timely manner. Through our investigation, it was determined that the inappropriate physical contact was isolated to the bus, thus we sent information home to notify those who could have possibly been affected. To our knowledge, all of the victims have come forward. We have been in contact with the Sweeny ISD Police Department throughout the process and have turned things over to law enforcement officials and the District Attorney’s office. This is truly a sad and unfortunate situation for everyone involved and we will assist the affected students in any way we possibly can. Our number one goal always is to ensure the safety and security of our students and we take that seriously.”