Former Sunday School Teacher Sentenced to 35 Years for Sexually Assaulting Female Relative

By Vanesa Brashier
Eastex Advocate
April 10, 2014

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/eastex/news/former-sunday-school-teacher-sentenced-to-years-for-sexually-assaulting/article_cd2b4b9c-f071-520d-a70d-fcee0a80b235.html?mode=story


A former Sunday School teacher and resident of Tarkington and Conroe will spend the next 35 years of his life in prison after being convicted of Indecency With a Child for the continuous sexual abuse of a female relative. The sentence was announced on Wednesday in the Liberty County courtroom of 253rd State District Judge Chap B. Cain.

Barring a successful appeal, Bruce Harp, 59, will be 94 years old before he is eligible for release. Prior to his conviction, Harp was offered a seven-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but that offer was declined.

The seven-year sentence would have meant just three and a half years in prison for Harp since he already has served an equal amount of time in the Liberty County jail while awaiting trial.

“There is no gold badge for sending someone away for the rest of their life but Mr. Harp made that decision,” said Liberty County Assistant District Attorney Steve Taylor, who prosecuted the case for the state.

For Taylor, a veteran defense attorney for 24 years, this was his first case as a prosecutor since joining the DA’s office at the beginning of the year.

Taylor presented evidence that showed the victim, who was between the ages of 7-9 at the time, had been fondled on a near-daily basis from 2007-2009.

“This is one of those cases where he put his hand down her panties and moved his hand over her genitals,” said Taylor. “There was no penetration but it is still a very serious matter. In Texas, these assaults are punished just as hard as if it was a capital murder offense.”

The assaults occurred when Harp put the child to bed at night at a mobile home in Tarkington where he lived with other relatives. Another assault, which the DA’s office chose not to pursue, allegedly happened when the child and Harp were on vacation together with other relatives at Disney World.

In 2009, the child had made an outcry to her mother, said Taylor, but the incidents were not reported to authorities until a short time later when the child complained to a friend, who in turn told her own mother. The friend’s mother confronted the victim’s mother, and the women sought guidance together from a pastor.

By this point, the family had moved from Tarkington to Conroe and were attending Mim’s Baptist Church, where Harp was an adult Sunday School teacher and frequently led worship services. Previously he had worked as a Sunday School teacher at Rural Shade Baptist Church in Tarkington.

Because of Harp’s residency in Montgomery County at the time that the assaults first became known, the case initially was investigated by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Children’s Safe Harbor in Conroe. However, once investigators determined that the assaults actually had taken place in Tarkington, the case was handed over to the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.

On Wednesday afternoon, Harp’s attorney, Lameka Trahan of Liberty, said Harp’s case will be appealed.

Taylor said he doesn’t expect the appeal to be successful since the success rate on appeals is less than 3 percent across the board in the state of Texas.

“Texans understand that children are our most valuable asset and must be protected, so the punishments are very harsh,” said Taylor.

That sentiment was echoed by Liberty County District Attorney Logan Pickett who added, “Liberty County jurors once again have proven that they are committed to protecting the ones in our society who need the most protection — our children.”