Ex-cop accused of sexual assault

BAYOU VISTA — A former Bayou Vista police officer and the grandson of a Galveston County justice of the peace faces sexual assault of a child charges from a northeast Texas county.

Michael John Nelson, 24, was working as a deputy in Hardeman County when a teenage girl accused him of sexual assault, officials said.

Nelson could not be reached for comment.

Nelson joined the Hardeman County Sheriff’s Office in February 2010 and was fired from his job in September in part because of the allegations Nelson had sex with a 16-year-old neighbor, Chief Deputy Paul Nix said.

Hardeman County, which is near the Texas-Oklahoma border in northeast Texas, turned the investigation over to the Texas Rangers, which conducted a three-month investigation.

Last week, Nelson was charged with two counts of sexual assault of a minor as well as possession of a controlled substance. He turned himself in and posted $250,000 bond.

Nelson returned to Galveston County and took a job last month as a reserve officer with the Bayou Vista Police Department, Chief Ed Lucas said.

Nelson is the grandson of Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace Mike W. Nelson, who also oversees court matters for the city of Bayou Vista.

The Bayou Vista chief said he was not aware of the allegations against Michael John Nelson until the officer came to him just before he was charged. When charges were filed, Lucas said he asked Nelson to resign.

“I did a background check before we hired him, and nothing came up,” Lucas said. “I asked him if he left (Hardeman) on bad terms, and he said no. I think he actually only worked one day for us because he was a reserve.”

Nelson also was a reserve officer for Bayou Vista before taking the job with the seven-man Hardeman County Sheriff’s Office, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education records. He worked for three months in 2009 for the Hitchcock Police Department, five months as a Galveston County sheriff’s deputy in 2008 and 17 months as a county jailer before that.

“TCLEOSE records show that no disciplinary actions of suspension or revocation have been taken on this license,” the agency’s spokeswoman, Laura Le Blanc, said. “However, TCLEOSE currently has a pending complaint for criminal misconduct, and his TCLEOSE license is subject to action.”