An Ector County Independent School District Police Officer has been arrested after authorities say he sexually assaulted an underage girl in Odessa, Texas.
Officer David Franco, 43, has been charged with Sexual Assault of a Child, a 2nd Degree Felony.
According to an arrest affidavit, on September 14 the Odessa Police Department was contacted by a parent who said that their 14-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted by a family friend identified as Franco, News West 9 reports.
The parent told police that they had found inappropriate text messages of a sexual nature between their daughter and Franco leading them to believe that she had been sexually assaulted. The parents then called Franco and say he admitted to the act.
A few days later the victim was interviewed by police. In the interview, the victim said that it happened at Franco’s home on the last day of summer school in the month of June 2019. The victim also told police that she had exchanged sexually explicit messages with Franco.
According to the affidavit, Franco then spoke with police and confirmed the allegations. Franco also admitted to having sex with the girl.
He was then charged and arrested with sexually assaulting a child. Soon after Franco was fired from his job as a police officer.
Ector County Independent School District released the following statement on Franco’s arrest:
“We are aware of the charge against one of our police officers and are cooperating with the Odessa Police Department as it conducts the investigation. We learned of the allegation over the weekend, and the officer was immediately suspended. He has now been terminated.
We will not tolerate this kind of behavior. We set very clear expectations for all of our staff members and expect all will build professional relationships for teaching, encouraging and inspiring kids. It is unacceptable for it to cross the line away from that professional standard. Parents trust us with their most valuable possessions, their children, and our goal will always be to maintain that trust by keeping them safe.
We have incredible people in ECISD. This situation denigrates the hard work being done by thousands of others every day. We do not want to forget their work. At the same time, we want to assure our community we will help the police and the family in any way we can.”