Deputy is accused of sexual assault of young mom
A veteran deputy at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was held Tuesday at the county lockup on charges he sexually assaulted a young mother in front of her child while on duty in March. Deputy Kenneth Wayne Reed, 45, of Montgomery, has since been released on $10,000 bond. Reed, who has worked for the sheriff since 1997, faces a criminal felony charge of sexual assault. He remains employed but could face disciplinary action, including termination, following a civil service review, according to Jason Spencer, spokesman for the office. He spent four months on desk duty after the woman reported the assault.
The weekday afternoon assault took place March 18 when a 26year-old mother was walking back to her car on a dead end street after walking her pit bull with her 7-year-old daughter, according to the woman’s lawyer, U.A. Lewis.
A uniformed Reed approached the woman in the
15700 block of Bammel Village Drive and struck up a conversation, according a statement from the sheriff ’s office. He told her to put her daughter into her truck, her lawyer said. She said he then called her over to his patrol car, parked a short distance away and made lewd comments about her body. He then sexually assaulted the woman with his hands, according to the sheriff’s office. Her lawyer said the woman’s daughter used a pad of paper in the car to write a note to her mother, which she held to the window.
Lewis said the girl’s note said
something along the lines of “Mommy why is he touching you like that?”
The deputy also programmed his number in the woman’s phone and called himself so he had her number, Lewis said. Later that day, after she left the area, the deputy texted her a lewd photograph and a sexually explicit video of himself, her lawyer said.
The victim was worried about reporting the crime, her lawyer said, because she was afraid the man who had just assaulted her might be assigned to the case.
But she did report the assault, showing investigators the photograph and video from a person who had programmed his name into her phone as “Officer Kenny
Reed.” The woman explained her daughter had witnessed the attack. The officers got permission to interview the girl and asked what she had seen. They also took the girl’s note as evidence, her lawyer said.
The woman submitted to a rape kit.
The sheriff’s office assigned Reed to desk duty and began an internal investigation. The sheriff ’s sexual assault unit concluded its investigation and handed the case to the District Attorney’s Office on April 28.
The woman repeatedly inquired whether charges would be filed against the officer, including making a trip to the DA's officet, where she was told if she didn't have an appointment she
had to leave.
Before charges were filed, Harris County prosecutors said Reed’s lawyer had said that he would plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of official oppression in exchange for two years’ probation, according to Lewis. The deputy said he would give up his Texas Commission on Law Enforcement license, which grants him permission to be a police officer, Lewis said.
A spokesperson for the DA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The DA’s public integrity unit filed a criminal felony charge of sexual assault early Tuesday, three months after the assault was reported. Reed faces two to 20 years.
The woman’s attorney plans to file a civil lawsuit alleging that Reed engaged in an Fourth Amendment violation of the woman’s privacy.
“We expect to see the same justice with this white officer and a Black female victim as we would see with a Black officer,” Lewis said.
If he is released on bail, Reed will not return to work until after his civil service review takes place, the sheriff’s spokesman said.
Investigators asked any other possible victims to contact the sheriff ’s internal affairs division at 713-274-5003.