Woman: Charge derailed by politics

CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - A Central Texas woman claims she was sexually assaulted and believes her case was thrown out of court because the man who allegedly assaulted her is a well-known public figure running for public office. 

Michele Riddle came to KXAN with details of what she describes as a disturbing encounter she had with her cousin, Kent Riddle.  Kent Riddle is running for Caldwell County Commissioner. The race is getting a lot of attention in the city of Lockhart.

Kent Riddle, who in campaign materials calls himself the "voice for the people," is in a heated Republican primary runoff election for that county post. The race will be decided Tuesday.

Riddle declined to be interviewed for this report. But in a full-page ad in last week’s Lockhart Post Register, his supporters sought to prop up his character by noting his accomplishments as a businessman. But the same ad also points out Riddle's "public falls from grace,” and his emergence from recent bankruptcy.

The ad suggests Riddle's supporters already know these things and are sticking with him in the campaign. Then  it goes on to castigate the author of an anonymous letter as a “gutless weasels” for attacking Riddle's character.

The question is: what were Riddle's supporters defending him from? 

“Michele Riddle put it bluntly:  “I felt disgusted. I just had a cousin attack me in a very inappropriate way.”

She said that on Valentine's Day this year, she met her cousin, who is also a real estate agent with JB Goodwin, to look at one of his rental homes. When she came in to the house, she says he kissed her and put his tongue in her mouth. She said she immediately pulled away.

“He hugged me again, he kissed me again," she said. "And (he) told me that if I did him a favor he'd do me a favor of getting him in the house and that's when he pulled on my pants. And that’s when I said ‘I need to go.”

Michele Riddle filed a report with Lockhart police. But police pointed out that a charge of sexual assault in Texas does not include kissing or putting one’s tongue in another’s mouth. So they filed charges of "simple assault," a Class C misdemeanor, against Kent Riddle.

“After we looked at it, considered the different statutes, the elements were not there for an attempted sexual assault,” said Lockhart Police Chief, Michael Lummus.

Lummus said Michele's case was handled like every other case. And the fact that Kent Riddle is running for public office had no influence on the investigation. In fact, Lummus said Kent Riddle refused to cooperate with police and would not talk to them during their investigation.

The lesser charge didn’t sit well Michele Riddle. And the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault doesn’t like it either but acknowledges police filed the proper charge under current Texas law.    

“In this case the charge that they put, although it doesn't seem fair, was I guess according to the law,” said Rick Gipprich, communication director for TAASA. 

The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault is an advocacy group for victims of sex crimes and monitors legislation to help law enforcement and potential victims in Texas.  Gipprich believes the offense Michele Riddle said should be considered a sex crime. 

“If it’s sexually motivated or there's a sexual nature involved in any way, then it should be classified as a sex crime," he said. "But unfortunately our laws don't allow that to happen."

“The best element we had was assault by contact, which means there an offensive touching or assault," Lummas said. "The affidavit was filled-out and sent to municipal court."

And once it got to Municipal Court, it was promptly dismissed by City Attorney Peter Gruning. The dismissal was signed by Judge Jim Gillis.

“When we take away the right for them to get the justice they deserve, it invalidates everything that they went through,” said Gipprich. 

Added Michele Riddle: “I thought it was disgusting and I have flash backs of him and I can't even kiss my own husband right now.”

KXAN submitted an open records request for the police report. But when it was delivered, several paragraphs were blacked out. 

Lockhart City Attorney Peter Gruning says details were redacted because the case did not result in a conviction. Gruning explained that although he never spoke to Kent Riddle, he dismissed the case because the burden of proof was, in his opinion, just too heavy.

“I think Lockhart protects a lot of people that are well known in town,” said Michele Riddle. 

Kent Riddle calls himself the "voice for the people."  It's on his campaign signs blanketing Lockhart.  But that voice went silent when KXAN tried to contact him.  We called more than a dozen times, left several messages, and sent several emails.  All of those efforts were ignored until late yesterday when Kent Riddle emailed KXAN stating:

"I have no comment on the baseless allegation that is the subject of your requested interview, regarding a case that was immediately dismissed, and question the timing of the