Punishment trial to begin in trafficking case
NEW BOSTON, Texas— Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin this morning in Bowie County in the punishment-only trial of a 63-yearold Texarkana man who gave teen girls drugs and cash in exchange for sex.
Kenneth Dewayne Nelson pleaded guilty Tuesday morning with the help of Houston lawyer Charles Johnson at a hearing before 5th District Judge Bill Miller to five counts of continuous trafficking of persons and two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Johnson announced at a pretrial hearing Monday that Nelson is electing to plead guilty but allow a jury to determine his punishment.
A jury was selected Tuesday following Nelson’s plea. Assistant District Attorneys Lauren Richards and Kelley Crisp are handling the case for the state. The five-man, seven-woman jury is to return to court this morning to begin hearing testimony in Nelson’s punishment-only trial.
Affidavits in the trafficking case state Nelson began having sex with 15-yearold “victim number one” in October 2014. Nelson reportedly 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 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 show Nelson and “victim number one” had more than 1,200 phone contacts between Nov. 30, 2014, and May 2016.
“Victim number two” gave an account similar to that of the first. 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, as with the first victim, Nelson gave her methamphetamine in exchange for sex and that she became addicted to the illicit drug.
“Victim number three,” like the others, 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. “Victim number four” reported that she began buying marijuana from Nelson in 2013 when she was 13 years old.
The fourth 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.
“Victim number five” reported that Nelson provided her and other victims with alcohol, marijuana, hydrocodone or methamphetamine in exchange for sex. The fifth victim reported that the sexual assaults began when she was 14 and continued until she was 17. The victims claim 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.
Each of the five trafficking charges to which Nelson pleaded guilty Tuesday is punishable by a minimum of 25 years to 99 years, or life in prison. Nelson must serve at least half of any term received for trafficking before he can be considered for parole. Each of the two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child is punishable by two to 20 years in prison. The punishment trial is expected to last two to three days.