Court upholds child indecency 12-year sentence for Fort Worth area ex-police officer
A Fort Worth area ex-police officer convicted of indecency with a child should remain in prison, appeals court judges said in an opinion issued this week.
Franklin “Frank” Carroll, 43, was working as a school resource officer at Springtown High School at the time of the offense, a news release from the Parker County District Attorney’s Office said. He was accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled that District Judge Graham Quisenberry “did not abuse [his] discretion by allowing the testimony” of two students and one of their teachers, who corroborated parts of the victim’s testimony, according to the release.
The victim testified that, during her freshman year, Carroll befriended her and began to pull her out of class to come into his office several times a week.
During a period of weeks and with the door closed so no one could see, Carroll first began hugging her, and then kissing her, and then touching her breasts over and under her clothes, and eventually started touching her genitals, the witness told the court.
Another student said Carroll befriended her but their relationship ended after he grabbed her and French kissed her in that same office.
A third high school student told jurors that after Carroll befriended her and she confided personal information to him. Carroll used that personal information to try to persuade her to give him naked pictures of herself, the release said.
“Two other female students testified that, while a school resource officer, Mr. Carroll befriended them then made inappropriate sexual advances towards them,” said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain. “One testified that, in the very same office, he French kissed her. The other said that he requested naked pictures from her. We introduced that testimony to rebut the defensive theory that our victim fabricated her claim.”
This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.
