Ex-Austin Fire Department Investigator Sentenced To Jail

https://patch.com/texas/southa...AUSTIN, TX — A former Austin Fire Department investigator on Thursday was sentenced to one year jail in a case related to his contact with a victim to whom he subsequently sent more than 30 text messages — some of them explicitly sexual in nature, the district attorney said.

Marcus Reed was assessed the jail term along with a ten-year period of probation and $14,000 fine, District Attorney Margaret Moore said in a press advisory. The sentence comes a month after a Travis County jury found Reed guilty of the felony offense of Aggravated Perjury and the misdemeanor offense of Official Oppression.

The jury had assessed the maximum jail term of one year on the official oppression charge, as well as a $4,000 fine, the DA explained. For the felony charge, the jury also gave him the maximum in this case of ten years, but determined that he should receive probation, as well as a $10,000 fine.

Previous coverage

• Austin Fire Official Charged With Sexual Assault
• Former Austin Firefighter Indicted For Indecency With A Child
• Fire Official Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Woman Stranded In South Austin

The official oppression case arose from an encounter Reed had in March of 2017 with the victim. After that encounter — which took place while Reed was on duty —Reed sent the woman more than 30 text messages, including some of an explicitly sexual nature, the DA said. The aggravated perjury charge was brought after Reed testified before a grand jury about that incident, falsely denying under oath that he had made contact with the victim after their encounter, in fact falsely denying that he had even tried to contact her.

After almost two weeks of trial, the jury announced it was unable to reach a verdict on two other counts of official oppression, and on two counts of sexual assault. The judge declared a mistrial to those charges, and on Thursday set those cases for retrial on May 4, 2020.