Previous Story
BREAKING NEWS: Sexual abuse of a minor charges vs ex-DPS chief, ex-cop dismissed
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho issued an order today, Friday, dismissing without prejudice the charge of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree each filed against former Department of Public Safety commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero and former police officer Jesse S. Concepcion.
Dismissal without prejudice means the Office of the Attorney General may re-file the charges.
In an 18-page order, Camacho said he finds no probable cause as to the charge of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree as the Commonwealth failed to prove an essential element of the offense.
Camacho said in this case the prosecutors filed charges of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree that Deleon Guerrero and Concepcion committed in their specific capacity as police officers.
However, the judge said, at the April 22, 2016 and May 9, 2016 preliminary hearing the prosecutor failed to produce any evidence that the alleged victim knew Deleon Guerrero and Concepcion were police officers.
Camacho will issue a separate order(s) as to whether there is probable cause for misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree charges filed against the defendants.
Concepcion and Deleon Guerrero, through their counsel, have asserted an affirmative defense that they believed then that the girl they allegedly sexually abused at a beach site in San Antonio in June 2013 was not a minor.
The Office of the Attorney General charged Deleon Guerrero and Concepcion each with one count of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree, two counts of misconduct in public office, and two counts of conspiracy to commit sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree.
Deleon Guerrero, 44, and Concepcion, 45, are both under house arrest after posting $25,000 and $10,000 cash bail plus property, respectively.
More details to follow.
