Former Tarrant County deputy accused of sexual assault, official oppression | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A former Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy has been indicted on allegations that he used his position to sexually harass two women and sexually assault one of them.

Alan Hoover, 45, was indicted June 22 on charges of aggravated sexual assault and official oppression.

He surrendered on warrants at the Tarrant County Jail on June 24 and was released after posting $30,000 bail.

Hoover started with the department as a jailer in 2010 and went through the police academy in 2013 and began working in patrol as a deputy, according to Executive Chief Deputy Mike Simonds.

Hoover was placed on paid leave in January after the victim in the sexual assault case filed a complaint, sparking an investigation by the department. He resigned in April in lieu of termination.

“As we investigated the [woman’s] allegations, these other allegations came to light,” Sheriff Dee Anderson said. “There were at least four other women he had engaged in similar behavior with although some of it was consensual. according to the women that we interviewed. There was definitely a pattern there and we were certainly headed toward termination.”

Anderson said some of the other women were identified through a search of Hoover’s cellphone, which revealed that he had made sexual advances and sent lewd photographs of himself via text messages to other women.

Simonds said the alleged victims were not women Hoover arrested but rather women whom he encountered while on duty or working county-sanctioned off-duty jobs while in uniform.

The case was presented directly to a grand jury, which returned the two indictments last month.

According to the indictments, Hoover is accused of sexually assaulting one woman in January by use of physical force or threat while using or exhibiting a gun.

He also sexually harassed the same woman, the indictment alleges, by grabbing her breasts and buttocks and sending her unwelcome sexual advances though a text message.

The official oppression indictment alleges that Hoover sexually harassed another woman in January 2014.

That harassment included touching the woman under her shirt, kissing her, commenting on her breasts and buttocks, showing her that he had an erection, sending her unwelcome sexual advances in text messages and going to her home, the indictment states.

Jim Ross, Hoover’s defense attorney, said his client “absolutely disputes the allegations that he sexually assaulted or acted inappropriately in any way.”

“As far as we’re aware, he was considered a fine deputy prior to this. There hasn’t been any other complaints about him,” Ross said.

Ross said his office is conducting its own investigation.