TEXARKANA, Texas - A local man accused of sexual misconduct with four girls pleaded not guilty to multiple felonies this week at an arraignment hearing in Bowie County.
Timothy Paul Wilder, 62, appeared Monday before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell with Texarkana lawyer John Pickett. Wilder is named in four separate indictments issued by a Bowie County grand jury earlier this month.
Pickett entered pleas of not guilty to all charges on Wilder's behalf.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told Tidwell that the state intends to exercise its right to a jury trial and will not be extending a plea offer to the defense. Pickett said the defense wants a jury trial as well.
Wilder is charged with three counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact. Bail is set at $100,000 on four of the counts and at $35,000 on the indecency charge, court records show.
Tidwell ordered strict bond conditions for Wilder, including house arrest, a GPS ankle monitor and no contact with minors or the alleged victims. Bowie County records show Wilder is free on a commercial bond.
All of the victims listed in Wilder's four indictments are reportedly related to him by marriage. Two of the indictments accuse Wilder of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 years of age. A third indictment alleges continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and indecency with a child by sexual contact. A fourth indictment accuses Wilder of aggravated sexual assault of a child and is punishable by two to 20 years in prison, if convicted.
Continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 is punishable in Texas by 25 to 99 years or life in prison, if convicted. There is no parole eligibility from any sentence imposed for the offense.
Aggravated sexual assault of a child is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and indecency with a child by sexual contact is punishable by two to 20 years in prison. If convicted of all charged offenses, Wilder could face up to four life sentences plus 20 years.
The dates of alleged misconduct vary in the four indictments. The indictments alleging continuous sexual abuse contain ranges of dates for the abuse, which span multiple years with the earliest beginning in May 2008.
Wilder was arrested in 2017 for aggravated sexual assault of a child but the case was dismissed later that year. One of the indictments for continuous sexual abuse concerns the same alleged victim as that named in a probable cause affidavit in the case for which Wilder was arrested in 2017. That girl was between 6 and 8 years of age when the misconduct allegedly began.
The affidavit in that case alleges Wilder often used his hands to abuse the girl at night when she had gone to bed and was staying at his home. Records in the other cases contain similar allegations and include accounts of Wilder abusing the girls while they were at his residence.
Tidwell scheduled Wilder's case for a pretrial hearing in October. A trial date has not been scheduled.