Ex-correctional officer makes court appearance in child sex abuse case

A man facing child sex abuse charges in Bowie County appeared Tuesday before a Bowie County judge for a pretrial hearing.

Michael Avis, 31, quit his job as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Barry Telford Unit in New Boston, Texas, when allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct with a 10-year-old female relative. Avis appeared before 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart with Chief Public Defender Rick Shumaker. Avis pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact at a hearing in April.

Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told Lockhart her office has been waiting for the results of a forensic analysis of Avis’ phone or computer and that a message she had not yet been able to return from Texarkana, Texas, police detectives leads her to believe a report detailing the findings of the analysis might be ready.

In April, Crisp told the court the state has offered to allow Avis to plead to 20 years on each count with the sentences running concurrently. As she did in April, Crisp discussed the state’s offer at Tuesday’s hearing.

“The state has offered the max, 20 years, and the defendant has not accepted that,” Crisp said. “So it seems likely we’re going to trial.”

In April, Crisp warned that the state would ask for consecutive sentences if the case is not resolved with a plea bargain.

Because of an upcoming capital murder case in which the state is seeking the death penalty scheduled for September, October and November in Lockhart’s court, the judge scheduled Avis’ case for its next pretrial hearing in December.

Lockhart reminded Avis, who is free on bond, to adhere to the conditions of his release. Avis is accused of touching a 10-year-old female relative, according to a probable-cause affidavit used to create the following account. The alleged victim told a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana that Avis was watching her while her mother shopped for Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. The girl said Avis touched her that day and on previous occasions as well.