DA says no charges filed in alleged sex assault at elementary

The Travis County District Attorney said criminal charges will not be filed in the case of an alleged sex assault at Boone Elementary in South Austin. But, court documents filed in a civil lawsuit said this isn't the only time a case like this was reported at the same school with the same teacher.

In the documents, it said the mom of a classmate came to the alleged victim's mother and told her that her 3-year-old daughter had also been assaulted just weeks after. Although a federal civil suit remains for one, both cases have now been criminally closed due to lack of evidence. Paul Guinn is the attorney for the family of the 4-year-old alleged victim. “We are not aware of any new information that has been used to make this determination by the DAs office or the school districts office.” Guinn said he was shocked to find out the criminal case would once again be closed, “The admission diagnosis on February 7 was a sexual assault by bodily force. This child was admitted overnight following a surgical procedure, she was discharged on February 8, the discharge diagnosis as she left the hospital was sexual assault by bodily force.” He said he's not aware of any retraction of that diagnosis, and would like to know who can overrule the trauma surgeon at Dell Children's Hospital that evening. 

The case was reopened after Guinn took the medical records to Travis County Prosecutors. But on May 12, DA Margaret Moore said in a statement: "The Travis County DA's office, in conjunction with the child protection team, has now completed this investigation in accordance with our procedures.  We find, based upon the additional records and expert review, there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges."

Guinn said the little girl has talked to her parents about what happened, and what she has said to her parents is in line with what the doctors said happened.  Although he can't provide details, in the court filing it said on February 18, the little girl had an "outcry" to her mom wherein she identified her assailant. That court paperwork also speaks of another case in which a 3-year-old girl, also in the same class, told her parents she was sexually assaulted at Boone Elementary. February 22, the child was examined at Dell Children’s; a case was opened, and was later closed for lack of evidence.

Guinn said the injury to the 4-year-old girl on February 7 was of such severity it required surgical intervention by a trauma surgeon. “If this injury was indeed a playground injury we would expect that the child would have seen the Boone Elementary nurse and the injury would've been documented and the parents would've been notified but none of those things happened.” He said he hopes the truth will come out of what happened and he's hoping now the DA's office and school district will help provide the closure.

“We invite them to come forward with their evidence and possibly give these parents the answers they've been seeking now over three months from AISD,” he said.

Guinn said a DNA rape kit was taken for the 4 -year-old girl. He said no one from AISD or the DA's office has notified him or the victim's parents about the results.