Stephens County Man Indicted for Lewd Assault of a Child

SAN ANGELO – A Breckenridge man has been indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury for aggravated lewd assault of a child and indecency with a child.

According to court documents, on December 13, 2021, investigators and sheriff’s deputies spoke with the parents of an under aged victim and the victim herself and learned that the child allegedly had been sexually assaulted by the defendant, identified as 20-year-old John Warner Linden, also known as J.W. Linden, on multiple occasions.

On January 5, 2022, investigators traveled to Stephens County and spoke with Linden who was incarcerated there on unrelated charges. Linden was read his Miranda rights and agreed to waive them and spoke with the investigators.

It was learned from Linden that in October 2019 around Halloween, the victim and Linden were cuddling on the living room floor of a residence located in Tom Green County. While doing this, Linden one thing led to another, the complaint said, and an aggrevated sexual assault occurred.

After the interview in Stephens County, Linden was returned to Tom Green County and booked into the Tom Green County Detention Facility on February 7, 2022 and is still an inmate there being held on $190,000 bond is not allowed to have contact with the victim.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child is a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of 5 to 99 years in jail with a fine of up to $10,000 and indecency with a child is a second-degree felony that carries a possible punishment of 2 to 20 years in jail and a fine up to $10,000.