Woman says she's still waiting for justice

Adopted daughter wants to know why she's being denied her day in court after accusing Redwater mayor of abuse years ago; he denies all allegations

This April 2018 photo shows Tiffany Lorance, left, and her adoptive mother, Nelwyn Miller. In 2004 at age 14, Tiffany Lorance accused her adoptive father and Miller's ex-husband Robert Lorance of sexual and physical abuse starting when she was 6. Robert Lorance now serves as mayor of Redwater, Texas.
This April 2018 photo shows Tiffany Lorance, left, and her adoptive mother, Nelwyn Miller. In 2004 at age 14, Tiffany Lorance accused her adoptive father and Miller's ex-husband Robert Lorance of sexual and physical abuse starting when she was 6. Robert Lorance now serves as mayor of Redwater, Texas.



















TIMELINE

1983: Robert Lorance arrested for burglary of a habitation in Bowie County, Texas, at age 18. 1984: Robert Lorance pleads guilty to burglary of a building indictment and is sentenced to 10 years' standard probation. 1986: Robert Lorance gets early discharge from probation. 2003: Gov. Rick Perry grants Lorance full pardon from felony burglary conviction. January 2004: Robert Lorance's adopted daughter, Tiffany Lorance, 14, makes outcry of sexual and physical abuse and is interviewed by Children's Advocacy Center. Tiffany's mother moves them to another state. Bowie County Sheriff's Office initiates criminal investigation. March 2004: Child Protective Services makes affirmative finding of abuse. July 9, 2004: Polygraph results show deception in Robert Lorance's answers to specific questions about the alleged sexual abuse. December 2004: BCSO turns investigative file on Robert Lorance over to Bowie County district attorney and recommends the case go to grand jury. 2005: Governor restores Robert Lorance's gun rights. March 15, 2006: Former District Attorney Bobby Lockhart sends letter to Tiffany's family expressing doubts about case and expresses concerns about them contacting media. Feb. 15, 2007: Former District Attorney Bobby Lockhart requests assistance from Texas Attorney General's Office in Robert Lorance criminal case. Letter cites Robert Lorance's father's law enforcement background and personal relationships with District Attorney's Office staff. May 12, 2008, to May 10, 2010: Robert Lorance serves on Redwater, Texas, City Council. June 2, 2008, to May 10, 2010: Robert Lorance serves as Redwater mayor pro tem. March 2 or 3, 2009: Motion to recuse the DA's office from Robert Lorance case is filed by Lockhart asking for appointment of Assistant Attorney General Julie Stone as district attorney pro tem. March 3, 2009: Stone files felony information in Bowie County charging Robert Lorance with injury to a child causing bodily injury by hitting. March 3, 2009: Robert Lorance pleads guilty to injury to a child as alleged in information. Lorance is sentenced to eight years' deferred adjudication probation by now-retired 102nd District Judge John Miller. May 10, 2010 to present: Robert Lorance is mayor of Redwater. His term expires in 2020. Feb. 26, 2014: Robert Lorance is granted an early discharge from probation by 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart. 2018: Robert Lorance loses the election for county commissioner.

Tiffany Lorance, the adopted daughter of Redwater, Texas, Mayor Robert Lorance, has waited half her life for justice.

As a young teen, Tiffany Lorance accused her adoptive father of continuous, years-long sexual abuse, and to this day, she remains firm in her allegations. While the sexual abuse claims were investigated beginning in January 2004, Robert Lorance received a plea deal five years later for injury to a child by hitting.

"He beat me. He sexually abused me. Why can't he be prosecuted for both?" Tiffany Lorance asked.

Robert Lorance continues to deny the sexual abuse allegations.

"She's a good liar," Robert Lorance said in an interview Friday. "This is all a lie."

Tiffany Lorance wants him charged in the alleged sex crimes. She wants the case presented to a Bowie County grand jury, and she wants to tell her story to a trial jury.

 

THE ALLEGATIONS

In 2004 at age 14, Tiffany Lorance, who was adopted at age 6 by Robert Lorance and his former wife Nelwyn Miller, first told of the alleged sexual abuse against Robert Lorance after her adopted mother questioned her about a sickening suspicion.

Nelwyn Miller said she, Robert Lorance and Tiffany Lorance had fallen asleep in the couple's bed when she awakened and saw Robert Lorance inappropriately touching her daughter.

Nelwyn Miller said she asked Tiffany Lorance later in the day about what she saw and was devastated to hear her daughter allege years of sexual abuse beginning when she was 7. Nelwyn Miller said she had suspicions about a year before, but put them out of her mind.

"I loved him. We had this beautiful girl, a good life," Nelwyn Miller said recently. "I was just blown away. I lost part of my mind that day."

Tiffany Lorance said she remembers the white cotton long johns with pink roses she was wearing the first time Robert Lorance allegedly touched her sexually. Her wet hair was wrapped in a towel. Her mother was at a bunco game.

"I can't even remember how many times this happened," Tiffany Lorance said in a Jan. 21, 2004, statement at the Texarkana Children's Advocacy Center. "I would say over a hundred times over the past seven years."

Tiffany Lorance said her father's work schedule meant he was often alone with her after school. She claims he molested her in pastures on the family's property and that he often woke her at night as she slept.

"Sometimes I would fall asleep in class and get in trouble because I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before," Tiffany Lorance said. "As I got older, I would hang towels over the windows when I took a bath. I knew he was watching me, looking in."

She claims her adoptive father physically abused her, also. She remembers being struck with his monogrammed belt so hard that the letters were visible on her skin in red and purple, being hit with a board and having injuries that kept her from "dressing out" for sports.

Robert Lorance admits hitting Tiffany Lorance once with a belt when she was arguing with her mother and "nearly set the kitchen on fire." He claims Tiffany Lorance moved when he began to strike her with the belt, and his "name plate" hit her inadvertently on the leg and left a mark.

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The Afterthought

THE ADOPTION

Tiffany Lorance said she was abandoned as a baby by her biological mother. She lived with the family of a distant relative who had other girls close to her age. She was happy there, but was excited when she learned that a couple wanted to adopt her, Tiffany Lorance said.

"It was cows and horses and four-wheelers and a nice room-stuff just for me," she said.

When the sexual abuse began, Tiffany Lorance said, she was afraid that telling would mean losing her adoptive mother.

"You know it's wrong, but you don't know why. He said we would get in trouble if I told. He used my mama against me a lot," Tiffany Lorance said. "I felt a strong connection to her right away. I didn't want to lose her."

 

ACTING OUT

Nelwyn Miller said that after Tiffany Lorance told her about the alleged sexual abuse, she spent that night in her daughter's room. The next day, when Robert Lorance was at work, Nelwyn Miller loaded some of her and her daughter's things into an SUV, picked her daughter up early from school and headed out of state.

Tiffany Lorance said she became mistrustful of everyone after leaving Bowie County. She acted out, including assaults on other teens that led to placements in youth homes. The turmoil in her mind that led to her anger and misbehavior settled as she reached adulthood, she said.

"I still have trouble trusting people. I'm jumpy. I have a lot of anxiety," Tiffany Lorance said.

Robert Lorance said Tiffany Lorance and Nelwyn Miller often called him for help after leaving Redwater.

"If I'm the bad guy, why call me?" Lorance asked.

Tiffany Lorance said on the day she and her mother left Redwater, they answered a call from Robert Lorance while driving. She called him once for bail money after a friend urged her to, and once at the suggestion of a group home staff member. The staff member told Tiffany Lorance to ask her adoptive father why he abused her.

"He didn't deny it," Tiffany Lorance said.

 

THE INVESTIGATION

When she left Redwater with her daughter, Nelwyn Miller reported the abuse to the authorities, and Bowie County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation. Tiffany Lorance was interviewed in January 2004 at Children's Advocacy Center in Texarkana and by Child Protective Services. Two months later, CPS made an affirmative finding that the abuse occurred, according to CPS documents provided by Nelwyn Miller.

Robert Lorance filed for divorce in January 2004. In an interview in February this year, he claimed Nelwyn Miller concocted the allegations because she wanted to get more money in their divorce settlement.

"We didn't really have that much. I was working as a secretary for the city of Redwater. If not for this, we might still be together," Nelwyn Miller said.

When interviewed by investigators in early 2004, Robert Lorance denied sexually abusing his daughter and agreed to take a polygraph. Retired BCSO Investigator Stacey Sumner said in a late-February interview that he had arranged for Robert Lorance to undergo that polygraph in a neighboring jurisdiction because of Lorance family ties to area law enforcement. Robert Lorance's father is retired from Texas Department of Public Safety and has served as mayor of Leary, Texas, in Bowie County.

A report detailing the results of the polygraph is included in the sheriff's investigative file, a copy of which the Gazette obtained through a Freedom of Information request. Robert Lorance showed "deception" on a series of specific questions concerning the alleged sexual abuse of Tiffany Lorance. (It should be noted that polygraph information is seldom admissible in court proceedings.)

The sheriff's office turned its file over to the Bowie County District Attorney's Office with a recommendation that the case be referred to a grand jury for indictment in December 2004, case documents show.

Years passed without action.

Nelwyn Miller and her current husband, Bobby Miller, called and wrote the District Attorney's Office repeatedly when it was under the supervision of former District Attorney and current 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart. In a letter to Bobby Miller dated March 15, 2006, Lockhart offered assurance that Robert Lorance was not receiving special treatment from the District Attorney's Office.

"I've already sent old high school friends, relatives and people I've known all my life to prison. I assure you Mr. Lorance does not rise to any of those categories. His case will rise and fall on the facts that we feel we can prove in court. To be quite honest, we have had some doubts about this case," the letter states.

Bobby Miller said he attempted to contact members of the national media about the case and made Lockhart aware of those efforts before receiving the letter from Lockhart.

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AP/Charles Dharapak

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki waits to speak at a meeting of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in Washington on Friday, May 30, 2014.

"Finally, it does not bother me personally that you have contacted the media about your concerns, but I can assure you it will be something the defense will use if this case is prosecuted to show that Mr. Lorance was treated unfairly by the state because of undue pressure allegedly brought on by your contacting the media. Defendants, in our experience, use anything they can to save their skins and would not hesitate to use this," Lockhart's letter states.

Nelwyn Miller said that after reading his letter to her husband, she wrote Lockhart asking what concerns or doubts he had regarding the case, but does not believe he responded.

In letter dated Feb. 15, 2007, Lockhart asked the Texas Attorney General's Office to get involved in the case.

"The Bowie County District Attorney's Office is requesting the AG's help because Robert Lorance's father, Coy Lorance, is a retired D.P.S. officer. Coy Lorance worked many years here in Bowie County and is known personally by not only myself but almost all of our felony prosecutors," the letter states.

Bobby and Nelwyn Miller said they met with Lockhart at the District Attorney's Office in June 2007 and were told of the attorney general's involvement.

 

THE PLEA DEAL

In 2005, as Robert Lorance remained under investigation for the alleged abuse, his gun rights-which he lost because of a 1984 conviction for burglary of a building when he was 18-were fully restored by former Gov. Rick Perry. Two years earlier, Perry had granted Robert Lorance a full pardon from the conviction.

Robert Lorance began serving on Redwater City Council in 2008. The next year, he pleaded guilty to injury to a child with bodily injury by hitting.

Tiffany Lorance was 19 and said she was disheartened when she learned of the plea bargain and that it included no punishment for the sexual abuse she says darkened her childhood.

Court documents show that in a single day, the case was handed over to the Attorney General's Office, and Robert Lorance was formally charged and sentenced to deferred adjudication probation. The case was never presented to a grand jury.

Lockhart filed a formal order dated March 2, 2009, seeking recusal of the Bowie County District Attorney's Office; it bears a March 3, 2009, file mark from the Bowie County District Clerk's Office. Also on March 3, former 102nd District Judge John Miller signed an order disqualifying Lockhart and appointing the attorney general as district attorney pro tem.

Assistant Attorney General Julie Stone then filed a felony information in Bowie County charging Robert Lorance with injury to a child with bodily injury, a third-degree felony, for allegedly hitting and injuring Tiffany Lorance from Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 31, 2003.

By the end of the day, Robert Lorance-who was then serving as Redwater's mayor pro tem-had pleaded guilty, and John Miller sentenced him to an eight-year term of deferred adjudication probation. Defendants who successfully complete such probation in Texas do not have final felony convictions on their records.

Robert Lorance has not been charged in connection with the sexual abuse allegations, according to records in the Bowie County District Clerk's Office.

Handwritten notes on the case's docket sheet state that the victim's family approved of the plea, but Nelwyn Miller and Tiffany Lorance dispute that.

"I was told it was happening. I didn't think there was anything else we could do," Nelwyn Miller said.

The docket sheet states "victim waived allocution," the chance to give a formal speech in the case. Tiffany Lorance said she was not offered the opportunity to face Robert Lorance and give a victim impact statement. However, her statement given Jan. 21, 2004, at Children's Advocacy Center detailing specific incidences of physical and sexual abuse is attached as an exhibit in the injury to a child case.

Robert Lorance began serving as Redwater's mayor in 2010. He applied for an early discharge from probation in March 2011 and in January 2014. Lockhart, who had since been elected district judge, signed an order Feb. 26, 2014, approving Robert Lorance's early discharge.

 

HOPE REMAINS

Nelwyn Miller and Tiffany Lorance said they remain hopeful that Robert Lorance will someday be held accountable by the criminal justice system for the alleged sexual abuse. Legal opinions on the issues differ.

Bowie County district Attorney Jerry Rochelle said he doesn't believe his office could handle such a case because of the 2009 order recusing Lockhart as district attorney. Rochelle said charging Robert Lorance for sexual abuse now after his plea to injury to a child would likely amount to double jeopardy.

No documents or docket entries exist in the injury to a child case indicating that the state agreed to waive prosecution of sexual abuse.

The Texas Attorney General's Office declined to comment specifically about the case and said it cannot release documents related to a sexual abuse allegation, but did provide a copy of applicable Texas law, which includes no statute of limitation for prosecution of child sexual abuse.

Tiffany Lorance and her mother said they are hopeful that the change in public sentiment as evidenced by the #MeToo movement means the sexual abuse allegations will be seriously considered by those with the authority to compel prosecution.

Texarkana neurosurgeon, child sexual abuse survivor and victim's advocate Marc Smith said he believes Robert Lorance should face prosecution for the alleged sexual abuse.

"After reviewing this case along with the dozens and dozens of CAC (Children's Advocacy Center), CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates), and Bowie County investigation reports and conclusions, it is truly shameful that Tiffany has not been given the 'due process' that any other similar case would have received. I truly admire her and her family for not giving up and relentlessly pursuing their chance to be heard. I only hope that someone with the authority to take action will take another look at this case and give it the attention it so obviously deserves," Smith said.

Mother and daughter said they refuse to give up hope.

"I want somebody to help us quit being the victim. That's what I want the state to do," Nelwyn Miller said. "Let us have our day in court."

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