Redwater, Texas, Mayor and Bowie County Commissioner's Court candidate Robert Lorance pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child in 2009 while serving in public office, according to records.
Lorance said in an interview Tuesday that the allegations stem from a "nasty divorce" and a vindictive former spouse. Lorance lamented the attention his past involvement with the law is getting during an election cycle and denied that he was given special treatment in the handling of criminal allegations against him.
Court records show that an investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse by Lorance began in January 2004 when the girl was 14. The girl, who was adopted by Lorance and his former wife at age 6, claimed she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted and physically abused from age 7 until she and her mother moved out of state in January 2004. According to an exhibit in the case, the move was prompted by the mother's observation of Lorance allegedly touching the girl inappropriately.
A statement signed Jan. 21, 2004, by the girl, a Child Protective Services staff member and a Texarkana Children's Advocacy Center staff member alleges that Lorance began sexually abusing the girl when she was 7 at the family's home in Redwater. The statement contains numerous detailed and specific accounts of alleged sexual abuse.
Lorance said Tuesday that the sexual allegations are false but admits he "whooped her with a belt with a big buckle," at least once.
He was never charged with any sexual offense. His felony plea is no longer part of his record.
The Jan. 21, 2004, statement accuses Lorance of kicking in a door after the girl ran from him during an argument because he was "after me with his belt." The statement describes at least two other instances of physical violence including an incident during which Lorance beat the girl with a stick for leaving a gate open when she was approximately 13. The statement alleges marks and bruises on the girl led a school principal to contact Lorance and threaten to call child services if the conduct continued.
The case was never presented to a grand jury. Court records do not indicate when an investigative file from law enforcement was turned over to the Bowie County District Attorneys Office. Lorance was never arrested, booked into jail or required to post bail.
A motion to recuse the Bowie County District Attorney's Office from the case was filed March 3, 2009, and signed by then District Attorney Bobby Lockhart who began serving Jan. 1, 2011, as 102nd District Judge.
The DA's motion cites a need to avoid the appearance of impropriety because of Lorance's relationship with members of the DA's office and asks that Julie Stone, a staff attorney with the Texas Attorney General's Office, be appointed as criminal district attorney pro tem. On the same day, now retired 102nd District Judge John Miller signed an order appointing Stone to serve as prosecutor.
Again on that day, a felony information charging Lorance with injury to a child with bodily injury, a third degree felony, was filed in Bowie County and signed by Stone as district attorney pro tem. The information charges Lorance with causing bodily injury to the girl from Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 31, 2003, by hitting her.
Lorance pleaded guilty to the information March 3, 2009 - the same day the DA's office recused, Miller appointed the AG's office to prosecute, and the information charging Lorance was filed. Lorance said Tuesday that he was serving on the Redwater city council or as the city's mayor pro tem at the time of his guilty plea and that he believes he will have served as Redwater's mayor for 10 years in May.
Miller sentenced Lorance to an eight-year term of deferred adjudication probation March 3, 2009. Handwritten notes by Miller on the case's docket sheet state that the victim approved of the plea agreement.
If a defendant successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication probation in Texas they do not have a final felony conviction on their record. Convicted felons are prohibited from running for or holding public office in Texas.
Lorance was assessed a $2,500 fine, ordered to pay $146.50 in court costs, ordered to complete 240 hours of community service restitution and ordered to have no contact with the victim or her family. Attached as exhibits in the injury to a child case are handwritten statements from the victim's mother, the victim's then 12-year-old friend, a then 44-year-old woman who babysat the girl, and the statement signed by the victim, a Child Protective Services worker and a Children's Advocacy Center staffer. The statements allege sexual and physical abuse of the girl by Lorance.
Lorance's attorney, Cary Rochelle of Texarkana, filed a motion for Lorance's early release from probation March 15, 2011, and again on Jan. 22, 2014. Lockhart, who had since been elected judge, signed an order discharging Lorance early from probation Feb. 26, 2014.
Court records also show that Lorance was charged in Bowie County with burglary of a habitation in 1983 when he was 18. Court records show that Lorance and a co-defendant stole a number of firearms from a residence in Texarkana, Texas, which they later sold in Palestine, Texas. Lorance was indicted for burglary of a building, non-residential, forced entry. He pleaded guilty, was ordered to pay a $500 fine and sentenced to 10 years probation June 4, 1984. Lorance was granted an early discharge from probation July 28, 1986, by former 5th District Judge Jack Carter.
As a convicted felon, Lorance was prohibited from owning firearms or ammunition and ineligible to vote, hold public office or serve on a jury.
However, clemency records show Lorance was granted a full pardon Dec. 6, 2003, by former Texas Governor Rick Perry and that Lorance's gun rights were restored Feb. 11, 2005, by Perry, according to the Texas Tribune.
Texarkana Gazette reporter Greg Bischof contributed to this report