TEXARKANA, Texas -- A man accused of escaping from the Bowie County jail while being held on a child sex abuse charge pleaded not guilty to two felonies Monday.
Kylon Chevon Clark, 20, appeared before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell for arraignment Monday morning with Assistant Bowie County Public Defender Clayton Haas. Haas entered pleas of not guilty on Clark's behalf to charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact and escape.
Tidwell set the case for a pretrial hearing in late March.
Clark was being held on the indecency charge when he allegedly made a break for it Nov. 10 during a routine prisoner transfer. Clark and four other inmates were taken from the jail on the fourth floor of the Bi-State Justice Building and down an elevator where a transport van was waiting to drive them the short distance to the jail, known as the Annex, that sits behind the Bi-State, according to a probable cause affidavit.
When Sgt. Zaccheaus Price exited the elevator and opened the van doors, Clark, third in line, "immediately turned to the left and took off running ... until he exited from the building through the open roll-up 'exit' door and continued running up the ramp from the basement."
Price told jail control he was chasing a fleeing detainee.
Bowie County Sheriff's deputies and members of the Texarkana Texas Police Department joined in the search around the Bi-State but were unable to locate Clark. At approximately 6:23 a.m., Hooks Police Department Chief Ricky Woodard reportedly spotted Clark in the area of Washington Street in Hooks. Clark allegedly ran from Woodard and was later found hiding beneath a house.
At the time of the alleged escape, Clark was being held on a charge of indecency with a child by contact involving a 15-year-old girl. Clark is accused of being naked when the girl woke in the night of July 26 to Clark on top of her and trying to remove her shorts.
Clark was allegedly dating an older relative of the girl's at the time.
Deputies were contacted twice about the alleged encounter July 26. Clark reportedly called the Bowie County Sheriff's Office that day to report that he had been sexually assaulted by a "16-year-old girl." The girl's mother went to the Bi-State Justice Building to make an in-person report on her daughter's behalf.
Clark was arrested that day on an outstanding, unrelated warrant. He allegedly told police he woke to the girl touching him in a trailer where they were sleeping on property next to a house.
The girl allegedly reported that she was "scared" when she woke to see Clark was nude and touching her inappropriately. She was allegedly "crying hysterically" when she went to the bedroom of an adult in the house and made an outcry of sexual abuse by Clark.
Clark allegedly sent the girl sexually suggestive messages on social media weeks before the alleged misconduct. Clark was released from Bowie County custody Aug. 6. On Aug. 9, the alleged victim's mother reported that her daughter received a Facebook friend request from Clark after he was released.
If found guilty of indecency with a child by sexual contact, Clark faces two to 20 years in prison. If found guilty of escape, Clark faces two to 10 years in prison. Clark is being held in the Bowie County jail on bails totaling $150,000.