Local molester kidnaps and rapes two Rusk children, waives jury trial

 

Jesse Ray Schmidt, 33, was booked into the Gregg County Jail on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 without bond after entering an earlier guilty plea in Cherokee County. (Courtesy: Gregg County)

Rusk, TX: 

Feb. 20, 2023 - After exhausting all continuance motions and competency hearings, Jesse Schmidt waived his right to a jury trial in Cherokee County after sitting in jail for over a year. Under his court appointed attorney's counsel, Schmidt threw himself on the mercy of the 2nd Judicial District Court and was sentenced to 50 years hard time. In 2021, he had been charged for the abduction and aggravated sexual assaults of a 10-year old girl and her 11-year brother from Rusk. He confessed to raping them in a Kilgore area motel room where they were found in the wee morning hours.  (Source: Cherokee County man sentenced to 50 years in prison for child sexual assault, kidnapping -KETK)

 

 Another day in Cherokee County, TX

On Aug. 30, 2021, a statewide Amber Alert was issued by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office a day after receiving a call from a mother in Rusk who said she had left her two kids at home with Jesse Ray Schmidt, who was living with her. When she returned later that day, Schmidt, the children and several firearms were missing.  Her kids were placed in CPS after being recovered the following morning at a Motel 6 in Kilgore. They had been spotted together in a Walmart in the area. Schmidt admitted to sexually assaulting them on multiple occasions and taking them out of the county without mom's permission. (Source: Man accused of kidnapping Cherokee County children now charged with continuous child sex abuse - KETK

After his sentencing in Cherokee County on Feb. 20, 2023, Schmidt was shipped off to Gregg County to face additional aggravated sexual assault of a child charges. He was indicted in Gregg County in Nov. 2022. (Source: East Texas man arrested for alleged kidnapping which prompted AMBER Alert now indicted for aggravated sexual assault of child - CBS 19)

 

RUSK, Texas (KWTX) - A statewide Amber Alert issued early Tuesday morning for 10-year-old Ashlynn Wells and 11-year-old Desmond Wells III was discontinued at around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office told KLTV that police found the two children with Jesse Ray Schmidt, 35, in Kilgore.

The children were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, KLTV reported.

Cherokee County Sheriff Brent Dickson told KLTV the suspect was living with the family, though it is not known why he took the children or where he planned to go.

He was detained, but no charges have been filed.

According to the alert, the two children were last seen around 1:15 p.m. Monday near the 11200 block of State Highway 84 West in Rusk, which is about an hour south of Tyler. (Source: Amber Alert for Two Missing Texas Children Discontinued- KBTX 3)

Criminal Docket Case 22141
THE STATE OF TEXAS vs SCHMIDT, JESSE RAY
Filed 05/23/2022
Disposition: 02/08/2023 Conviction-guilty plea or nolo cont-no jury
2nd District Court, Cherokee County, Texas

Criminal Docket Case 52690-A
THE STATE OF TEXAS vs SCHMIDT, JESSE RAY
Filed 02/20/2023
188th District Court, Gregg County, Texas

 

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