Grand jury indicts grandfather in sex case
Published 9:18 am Thursday, May 31, 2018
By Ken Stickney
A Beaumont grandfather has been indicted in three separate cases of continuous sexual abuse of a child. The victims, according to the indictments, were his granddaughters.
A Jefferson County grand jury found reason to believe that Charles Grant, 49, of 3165 Westmoreland Drive molested the girls, who were between 7 and 10 years old, at a rented storage unit.
In an affidavit, an investigator said he would sometimes take all three girls to the storage facility, molesting one child while the others watched from their grandfather’s truck for witnesses.
The abuse took place over a period of about two years, investigators said.
“This is as bad as it can get,” said district attorney Bob Wortham. “I don’t know how someone can do this to their grandchildren.”
Grant was at the Jefferson County Jail on Wednesday with bond set at total of $60,000, according to the roster. Wortham said he’d ask for a higher bond.
Court records reveal that Grant had at least two prior felony convictions, one for injury to a child causing bodily damage and the second for engaging in organized criminal activity. Wortham said the defendant could be sentenced to 25 years in jail on each charge.
Wortham said for almost three years he has assigned additional prosecutors to handle cases involving child abuse and child sexual abuse. He said his office has also taken aim at cases involving sex offenders who fail to register in this county.
“If you’re a sex offender, get the hell out of Jefferson County,” he said, “because we’re going to get you.”
Wortham said he was unsure if child sex offenses are growing in the county. But he said he believes as the county has successes in prosecuting child molesters, it encourages other victims to come forward.
He said there are about 150 cases on the Jefferson County docket involving child abuse or child sex abuse. Almost all of them involve violators who are family members or otherwise known to the child.
“I hope we can catch everybody,” he said. “We can stop it. We can make things happen.”
