A 63-year-old Texarkana man facing multiple counts of human trafficking and sexual assault appeared in a Bowie County courtroom Monday for a pretrial hearing.
Kenneth Dewayne Nelson is accused of trading drugs and cash for sex with teen girls. Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards said she intends to file a motion to consolidate the cases pending against Nelson and have them decided by a single jury.
If convicted, Nelson would face 25 to 99 years or life on each of five counts of human trafficking and two to 20 years in prison on each of two counts of sexual assault of a child. Jury selection is scheduled for June 26 at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston, Texas.
Nelson was first arrested in June for alleged sexual assault. The alleged victim in that case is listed as "victim number one" in a probable-cause affidavit describing the trafficking allegations.
Affidavits in the trafficking case allege Nelson began having sex with 15-year-old "victim number one" in October 2014. Nelson allegedly gained the girl's trust by first buying her a shirt and a hat. The girl said she and other girls, identified in affidavits as "victim number three" and "victim number four," often rode together with Nelson in his black sedan to Nelson's "trap house" in the 1300 block of Lee Street in Texarkana, Texas.
The first alleged victim told investigators and a forensic interviewer at the Children's Advocacy Center in Texarkana that she began having sex with Nelson about twice a week in exchange for marijuana and Xanax but that the frequency of the sexual assaults increased once she became addicted to methamphetamine, which Nelson would provide her every other day.
Phone records allegedly show Nelson and "victim number one" had more than 1,200 phone contacts between Nov. 30, 2014, and May 2016.
Alleged "victim number two" gave an account similar to that of the first alleged victim. She claimed Nelson first gave her marijuana for exposing her breasts to him as they rode in his car when she was 16. She reported that, like the first alleged victim, Nelson gave her methamphetamine in exchange for sex and that she became addicted to the illicit drug.
Alleged "victim number three," like the other alleged victims, reported that she received marijuana, Xanax and cash in exchange for sex with Nelson at a house he owned in the 1300 block of Lee Street beginning in 2014 when she was 15. Alleged "victim number four" reported that she began buying marijuana from Nelson in 2013 when she was 13 years old.
The fourth alleged victim said she refused Nelson's offers to trade sex for drugs until she was 14. She reported having sex multiple times with Nelson at the Lee Street house in exchange for drugs when she was 14 and 15 years old.
Alleged "victim number five" reported that Nelson provided her and other alleged victims with alcohol, marijuana, hydrocodone or methamphetamine in exchange for sex. The fifth alleged victim reported the alleged sexual assaults began when she was 14 and continued until she was 17.
The victims alleged Nelson would have sex with one in the back seat of his car while another victim waited in the front or that he would have sex with one victim in a bedroom of the Lee Street house while another waited in a different room.
According to an earlier press release, the charges against Nelson are the result of a joint investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI and Texarkana, Texas, Police Department. Nelson was free on a $150,000 bail bond at the time of his arrest in October for trafficking. Bail on each of the five trafficking cases has been set at $250,000 cash.
Nelson is being held in the Bowie County jail. Fifth District Judge Bill Miller scheduled Nelson to return to court next month for a pretrial hearing.
llarowe@texarkanagazette
.com