VERNON (TX)
Fox News [New York NY]
July 22, 2021
By Audrey Conklin
Texas minister Brian Keith Pounds allegedly gave a 15-year-old girl meth and sexually assaulted her, according to authorities.
The Vernon Police Department first responded to reports of an underage girl, identified as Jane Doe, with Pounds, 45, at a motel on July 1, police said in a Facebook post Monday explaining the department’s investigation.
Pounds told a Vernon police officer he was a minister at the First Assembly of God Church and was getting a room at the motel for a person in need, according to an affidavit reviewed by Fox News.
Jane Doe’s mother found Jane Doe at a Walmart that same day, north of the motel, and brought her to police, authorities said. Jane Doe then told police she had been having sexual intercourse with Pounds, whom she said had been counseling her and her family through the church, for about a month and smoking meth in the motel room, according to the affidavit.
“Pounds had been in the grooming process by getting Jane Doe a job cleaning houses for elderly people,” the affidavit reads. “Pounds then began to meet Jane Doe at his Church located… in Vernon. Pounds started offering Jane Doe methamphetamine at the church. Pounds continued to meet Jane Doe at the church for what Jane Doe described as counseling.”
Pounds denied allegations when confronted by police and said he had been helping Jane Doe and her family.
Pounds was arrested July 16 on charges of sexual assault against a minor and held on $200,000 bail after investigators prepared a warrant affidavit at the time.
Investigators presented the warrant affidavit to the Wilbarger County Justice of the Peace Office on Monday and charged Pounds with additional offenses, police said in another Facebook post.
Jail records show Pounds is facing an additional charge of delivery of a controlled substance to a minor set at $100,000 bail.
The Vernon Police Department’s investigation is ongoing. Police are asking anyone with additional information to contact 940-553-3311.