According to Deputy Capt. Dan Caddell, William Brent Parham turned himself in last Wednesday and he was booked into the Bee County Jail by Investigator Stephen Martin.
The charge is a second degree felony punishable by a term of from two to 20 years and a fine of as much as $10,000.
Justice of the Peace Joe Lyvers set a $150,000 personal recognizance bail on Parham. Deputy Sgt. Steve Linam said Parham was released the same day.
Martin said Parham is suspected of having approached a group of teens who had met earlier at a United Methodist Church gathering and had then gone to some property northeast of the city near Dickerson Road for a small, private outing around a campfire on Nov. 9.
According to reports, Parham approached them from some neighboring property, brandished a gun and ordered the teens, ranging in age from 14-16, to “sit down and shut up or I’m going to kill you.”
(Continued from Page 1A)
A 19-year-old youth director for the First United Methodist Church told the teens to run and he confronted Parham, authorities reported. The 40-year-old property owner heard the commotion and approached Parham, only to be ordered to the lie face-down, investigators said. The property owner said the intruder held the handgun to the back of his head and cocked the hammer. At that point, the owner turned, disarmed the intruder and struck him with the pistol until the man quit fighting.
Parham was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Beeville and later taken to a hospital in Corpus Christi for treatment of his injuries.
Martin said it is possible that the suspect could have had a reaction to medication he was taking at the time.
Cruelty to livestock
A suspect in another incident being investigated by deputies also has been charged and still is in custody at the county jail.
Sgt. Linam said Amanda Moritz, 27, is in jail on a charge of cruelty to livestock animals and is being held on two revocation or probation warrants.
She was charged in connection with a Nov. 21 incident in which Bee County deputies accompanied members of the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Rescue Society and Special Ranger Sonny Sewald of the Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association to her property on County Road 505.
Deputies and rescuers removed 10 horses from the property at the time and Linam noted that it was the second time that underfed horses had to be taken from the suspect since July 2003.
Linam said when probation authorities learned of the charge they issued revocation orders, citing the 2003 animal cruelty arrest and subsequent misdemeanor hot check charges.
Linam said Moritz has been in custody at the jail 12 days now and she is being held on bonds totaling $5,750 on the three charges.
The investigator said cruelty to livestock animals is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by confinement of up to a year in the county jail and a fine of as much as $4,000.
However, after two convictions on the same charge the third charge would be a state jail felony, punishable by a term of from six months to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of as much as $10,000.
Linam said Moritz has yet to be convicted of either of the animal cruelty charges filed against her so far.
Post a Comment