Share
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
FORT WORTH -- Testimony begins Tuesday morning in the official oppression trial of a former Pelican Bay police chief accused of sexually harassing two women during separate incidents in 2006.
Eddie Frankum was running for sheriff of Kaufman County last February when he was indicted on three misdemeanor charges stemming from a yearlong investigation of allegations that he inappropriately touched two women while he was Pelican Bay police chief.Frankum, 36, has declined to discuss the allegations with the Star-Telegram. During his campaign for the Republican nomination for Kaufman County sheriff, however, he told two local newspapers that the charges were without merit and politically motivated. He subsequently lost the election.The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, with assistance from the FBI and Texas Rangers, began investigating Frankum after receiving complaints against the then-chief in early 2007.Frankum resigned as chief in July 2007 after he came under fire for setting up an impound lot for towed cars, among other things. He now lives in Dallas, according to court documents.The indictments, initially returned by a Tarrant County grand jury on Feb. 8, 2008, alleged that Frankum inappropriately touched the two women on their breasts and genital areas while frisking them. In both cases, Frankum was accused of pulling open the pants and undergarments of the women.The first woman alleged that she was frisked after she was arrested in February 2006 at a friend’s home in Pelican Bay.The second woman said she was frisked after she and her husband were pulled over during a routine traffic stop in July 2006. A district attorney’s investigator said the woman’s husband was arrested on that day on suspicion of having a marijuana cigarette in the car but was never charged. Pelican Bay police issued a warrant for the woman’s arrest on a charge of endangering a child stemming from that traffic stop.The initial indictments were dismissed in July for legal reasons but were re-indicted in August. A third indictment, alleging that Frankum had a woman arrested on charges he knew were untrue, was dismissed.Official oppression is a Class A misdemeanor which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail. It is being tried in the 371st District Court because charges against public officials must be tried in a state district court.State District Judge Mollee Westfall is presiding over the trial which was set to begin at 9 a.m. today. The case is being tried by prosecutor Tiffany Burks and defense attorney Katherine Haywood.Martha Deller, 817-390-7857
@Nyx.CommentBody@