SAN ANGELO, TX – For the month of December, a grand jury in Tom Green County indicted 69 people on a variety of offenses.
As usual, in addition to the drugs, assaults and forgery cases, there are a few indictments that stand out, including sex crimes against children, sexual violation of civil rights of people in custody, injury to children and theft of cattle.
Child Sex Offender Fails to Register Online Profile; Two Men Indicted for Sex Crimes Against Children
On April 14, 2016, San Angelo Police Sgt. Kelly Lajoie filed a complaint against Jeremiah Lee Mediano, 34, for failing to register or comply with the requirements of Chapter 62 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. He failed to report "any changes to the establishment of any new online identifier, to wit: Facebook Profile, not already included on the Defendant’s sex offender registration form,” said the filed complaint.
Mediano, the brother of Jacob Mediano, a man who was sentenced to 50 years in prison in March 2016 for the continuous sexual abuse of a child (see here), and who spoke out vocally about his brother’s innocence, was previously charged for the Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child in 1999.
The complaint stated that Sgt. Lajoie personally spoke with SAPD Sgt. Mark Medley and SAPD Records Clerk Cindy Morales, and, on March 24, 2016, observed the profile photograph of “Brutus Lee.” She confirmed the male subject in the photograph to be Jeremiah Mediano, the defendant.
“[Lajoie] knows, through previous encounters with the Defendant, that [he] is currently a Registered Sex Offender with the San Angelo Police Department,” said the complaint.
Sgt. Lajoie also confirmed with Morales that Mediano did not provide SAPD with any online identifiers, nor did he notify Sgt. Medley about the online identifiers during his checks on Mediano. The complaint further stated that, on April 14, 2016, Morales told Lajoie that Mediano completed the Pre-Release Notification Forms for Texas Sex Offender Registration Program and the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Update; however, he only added an email address—not any social media profiles.
After obtaining Facebook records and verifying the cell phone number used to set up the profile in 2009 as Mediano’s, Lajoie filed the complaint. For failing to properly notify officials of this online account, the grand jury indicted Mediano this month for Sex Offenders Duty to Register Life/annually, a third degree felony.
According to jail records, Mediano has been arrested 15 times in Tom Green County.
Also indicted in December was 18-year-old Moises Andrade. This man faces three counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault Child and one count of Indecency w/Child Sexual Contact.
According to the Indictment, on or about Oct. 15 2015, Andrade sexually assaulted a girl younger than 14 orally and vaginally.
This incident was Andrade’s first arrest in TGC.
In addition to Mediano and Andrade, the grand jury indicted 77-year-old Joel Livingstone Sharp on Possession of Child Pornography, a third degree felony.
According to the indictment, Sharp, on or about Dec. 5, 2014, “intentionally and knowingly” possessed visual material that visually depicted a child, younger than 18 years of age at the time the image was made, engaging in sexual conduct.
Sharp’s bond was initially set at $25,000, and this was his second arrest in TGC.
For the original story in this case, click here.
Three People Indicted for Sexual Violation of Civil Rights of Person in Custody
Last month, the grand jury also indicted three people for the sexual violation of civil rights of people in custody: Logan Reid Boyd, 29, Shannon Lorrian Strasburg, 45, and Luis Carlos Ayala, 51.
On or about June 14, 2016, Boyd, while an employee of the Tom Green County Jail, “intentionally” engaged in sexual contact with a person in custody.
As a result, he faces a State Jail Felony. This was Boyd’s first arrest in TGC.
For our initial story on this case, click here.
In the next case, on or about July 25, 2016, and during her employment at the Tom Green County Jail, Strasburg also intentionally engaged in “deviate sexual intercourse” with a man in custody.
According to the complaint, on July 18, Tom Green County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Orlando Juarez initiated an investigation in reference to possible sexual activity occurring in the kitchen at the TGCJ between Aramark civilian contract employees and inmate kitchen workers, known as kitchen trustees.
“The defendant was identified as possibly having a sexual relationship with the complainant,” said court documents. The defendant was an Aramark Food Service contract employee assigned to the Tom Green County Jail.”
On July 29, Strasburg was interviewed and read her Constitutional Rights. She also admitted to engaging in oral sex with the complainant in the dry goods storage room of the TGCJ.
Strasburg’s bond was initially set at $10,000, and her charge of Civil rights Person In Custody Violate/Sexual is also a state jail felony. This was her first arrest in TGC. For the initial story on this case, click here.
In the same investigation, Ayala was arrested for the same crime. On or about July 26, 2016, Ayala engaged in sexual contact with a male inmate in custody of the TGCJ. Ayala’s arrest was a part of Sgt. Juarez’s investigation into sexual relationships between Aramark civilian contract employees and inmate kitchen workers.
The complaint stated that Ayala resigned from his position on July 27, 2016, which was his last day of actual employment as well.
“On July 28, 2016, the complainant was removed from the kitchen trustee status and then made an outcry of being sexually abused by a kitchen employee,” noted the complaint.
The complainant also told Sgt. Juarez that, on July 26, while in the dry good storage room of the TGCJ kitchen, Ayala asked him to “expose his underwear and buttocks to him.” The complainant also stated Ayala has a “sexual preference for men.”
Ayala also faces a State Jail Felony charge of Civil Rights Person in Custody Violate/Sexual. This was his first arrest in TGC.
Two People Indicted for Injury to Children
In addition to the sex crimes against children, the grand jury indicted two people for injury to children.
Ammity Mae Lancaster, 46, now faces two third degree felony charges of bodily injury to two children younger than 14.
Our readers may remember this case. Lancaster is the woman who struck two children with a pole at Cross Keys Apartments (see that story here).
According to the complaint, on Oct. 13, 2016, San Angelo Police Sgt. Rick Tinsley contacted Detective Jason Chegwidden and told him Officer Gochenauer was investigating a case involving the assault of two children.
Sgt. Tinsley told Chegwidden one victim went to Shannon Medical Center, and the other went to Community. Detective Chegwidden also learned the assault took place at the Cross Keys Apartments, 1222 S. Abe St.
The detective went to Community Medical Center and spoke with Ms. Davis, the parent of one of the victims and a juvenile witness. Davis told Chegwidden that her daughter came to her crying and had an injury on the top of her head, so she took the girl to the hospital for medical treatment. Chegwidden noted that the victim had braided hair, so he could clearly see her scalp, which had an abrasion that started just at the hair line on her forehead and extended back about four inches.
“The skin was torn and there was bleeding present on the abrasion,” said the court complaint.
Davis told Chegwidden this has been an ongoing issue with Lancaster, a tenant in her apartment complex. The mother also said her children play near Lancaster’s apartment, and this upsets her because her dogs start barking. She added that, in the past, Lancaster has allowed the dogs to exit the apartment and chase her children.
After talking to Davis and her daughter, Chegwidden went to Shannon Medical Center to speak with Ms. Hancock, the parent of the second victim and another juvenile witness. He noticed that the victim had a bruise on her wrist and scratches and scrapes on her face.
On October 14, officials conducted a forensic interview of the two juvenile victims and two juvenile witnesses. One of the victims said the neighbor used a long round metal stick to hit her. The other victim said “the mean lady with the dogs” hit her near “where we play at.” One of the girls said, while she was being hit on the head, her cousin was getting hit too. The other girl said the woman hit her all over the face and arm.
When the interviewer asked one of the victims if Lancaster said anything when this happened, the girl said the woman told her, “Go home and tell your mom.”
One of the juvenile witnesses told the interviewer she was playing with the victims at the apartment complex when an older lady came out of the apartment and hit one of the girls with a metal pole on the head. She also hit the other girl with a metal pole on the head and arm. The other witness confirmed the same information, but added that she heard Lancaster say, “You are in trouble for coming to my house.”
At the time of the incident, the victims were ages 7 and 4. This was Lancaster’s second arrest in TGC, and her bond totaled $15,000. She was previously arrested for Assault Causes Bodily Injury Family.
In another case, 21-year-old Juan Manuel Bustos-Portales faces one count of Intoxication Assault with a Vehicle, a third degree felony, and two counts of Injury to a Child Criminal Negligence, both state jail felonies.
Court documents indicated that, on or about July 31, 2016, Bustos-Portales operated a vehicle in a public place while intoxicated, and, as a result, caused serious bodily injury to Dillon Allan Koenning by causing the vehicle to strike a rail and another vehicle.
Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Dustin Henderson said he was dispatched to the crash on US 87, near Wilde Rd., on that day at approximately 1:26 a.m. Bustos-Portales admitted to driving the vehicle.
“Further investigation revealed Bustos-Portales was traveling behind a Chevrolet Suburban that was also in the left lane,” said the complaint. "The Chevrolet Suburban was slowly passing a pickup that was in the right lane.”
The defendant disregarded an official traffic control device that advised left turn only, and he began the passing movement in a turning lane designed to access the crossover. He then struck a guard rail and rolled into the Suburban, said the complaint.
A 5-year-old boy in the Suburban sustained lacerations to the front and back of his head due to the crash, and a 12-year-old girl in the vehicle required stitches on her left foot. She also complained of back pain.
Koenning, a passenger in Bustos-Portales’ vehicle, severed his middle finger on his right hand past the last joint due to the crash. All occupants involved in the crash were transported to Shannon Medical Center by San Angelo Fire/EMS for further treatment.
“While interviewing Bustos-Portales, he displayed glassy bloodshot red eyes and reeked of alcohol,” Henderson said in his report. “The defendant also had slurred speech. [He] admitted to consuming four beers prior to the crash.”
Because of this, Deputy Henderson administered the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test to Bustos-Portales at the crash scene, and he displayed six of six clues indicating he was intoxicated. The decision point is four clues, said the complaint. Henderson then administered a portable breath test, which indicated a BAC of 0.121. Bustos-Portales also agreed to provide a blood specimen and allowed Henderson to transport him to the Tom Green County Jail without further incident.
This is Bustos-Portales’ first arrest in TGC. For another story on this case, click here.
Previous Constable Candidate Indicted for Theft of Cattle < 150K
Many of our readers will also remember the theft of cattle incident involving a previous Precinct 2 Constable candidate, 42-year-old Dusty Thompson.
The indictment stated that Thompson, on or about Oct. 1, 2016, “did then and there unlawfully appropriate, by acquiring or otherwise exercising control over, property, to-wit: cattle, of the aggregate value of less than $150,000, stolen during a single transaction.”
This Theft of Cattle is a third degree felony, and this is Thompson’s second arrest in Tom Green County.
For the initial story on this case, click here.
To review the rest of December’s indictments, visit here.
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