Alto, TX:
Veteran Alto ISD coach Paul Dixon is currently under investigation by authorities for having an alleged improper teacher/student relationship with an underage girl. Coach Dixon, age 37, turned in his resignation last week in response to allegations of text messaging a female student. Another "unnamed" Alto ISD faculty member (Dixon's father and fellow coach) has also resigned for allegedly obstructing the investigation. Dixon was employed with the Alto TX School District for over 24 years.
What happens in Cherokee County, stays in Cherokee County.
The 16-year student told police she had sex with the 37 year old baseball coach twice on the Alto ISD school grounds, including in the Elementary School gym. (Source: Student told Alto police she had sex with coach twice on school grounds, KTRE) Dixon's father, also a coach at Alto ISD was terminated for trying to cover up the affair by pressuring the victim to lie to authorities. Elmer Beckworth's grand jury decided not to indict Dixon Sr for Tampering with a Witness.
Teacher/student improprieties can be prosecuted as 2nd degree felonies under current Texas law. Paul Dixon was 37 at the age of the incident, NOT 24 years old as reported by Cherokee County newspapers. Coach Paul Dixon did work for Alto ISD for over 24 years. Dixon was eventually indicted in 2009 for having sex with an underage girl twice. (Source: Grand jury indicts former Alto coach, KTRE) He was not charged with statutory rape according to law, even though the victim was under 17 at the time.
Alto ISD coach Paul Dixon, 37 years old, sentenced to probation for improper sexual relations with a 16-year old Alto ISD student.
Paul Dixon circa 2011 went from age 24 to age 40 in a matter of a couple years according to Cherokee County newspapers. In 2011, Paul Dixon was given 10 years probation for sexual relations with the high schooler and sent on his merry way. (Source: Jacksonville Progress) He did not have to register for life as a sex offender as part of his plea bargain with the Cherokee County district attorney's office.
Criminal Docket; Case 17471
IMPROPER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATOR/STUDENT
THE STATE OF TEXAS vs PAUL HEATH DIXON
DOB 04/07/1971
Filed 04/27/2009 - Disposition: 01/13/2011
Conviction-guilty plea or nolo contest-No Jury
2nd District Court, Cherokee County, Texas
Student told Alto police she had sex with coach twice on school grounds, 8/19/2009
ALTO, TX (KTRE) - A female student at Alto High School told police she had sexual intercourse with a coach on two separate occasions on school grounds.
The student, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, gave police a written statement on March 4 stating she did kiss Paul Dixon up to ten times, but did not engage in intercourse with him. However, she gave another statement on March 13 admitting to engaging in intercourse with him on Feb. 17 at the elementary school gym and again on Feb. 23 on school grounds.
The student stated in the first affidavit that others in her school found out about the relationship and told another employee at the school, who told the superintendent about the relationship.
In the second affidavit, the student alleged Dixon's father, John Paul Dixon, who also served Alto ISD as a coach, put pressure on her to lie to police about the relationship.
Alto ISD accepted a resignation from Paul Dixon and put John Paul Dixon on paid leave until the investigation was complete. A Cherokee County Grand Jury chose not to indict John Paul Dixon on tampering with a witness charges.
Alto Superintendent Ray DeSpain said John Paul Dixon has been taken off leave following the grand jury's action, but declined to comment further on his status, including any kind of disciplinary action taken.
KTRE acquired the student's sworn affidavits through an open records request filed on May 12, which the Cherokee County's District Attorney's Office appealed to the Texas State Attorney General's Office.
"I'm truly sorry about my actions and the whole ordeal," the student stated in the affidavit. "I would never want this to happen to any other female and/or male student. It's not worth the time whatsoever. If I could go back and change anything, I would because all the stress from this is truly not worth it."
Crockett, TX:
Tyler’s federal court has indicted two Houston County sheriff deputies for an alleged civil rights violation occurring in the Davy Crockett National Forest. District court bailiff Charles James Clark and narcotics investigator Henry Doyce Gresham, Jr. are both charged with conspiracy and assault of a Crockett, TX man the pair allegedly TASERED and left for dead out in the National Forest in July 2008. The two Houston County deputies, Clark age 63 and Gresham age 50, are on administrative leave pending their federal trial. No need for a pseudo-concerned citizen and buddy-buddy district judge to call an urgent removal hearing for this bailiff and narcotics officer, a la’ Randall Thompson.
Rusk, TX:
Cherokee County DPS Sergeant Thomas Bledsoe was suspended with pay Friday March 20, 2009 from an indecent exposure arrest earlier the previous month. Sgt. Bledsoe allegedly pulled his pants down and flashed a female DPS employee on February 3rd. He was moved from the Cherokee County office in Jacksonville to the Palestine, TX DPS office after the initial complaint. The Department of Public Safety is investigating the incident.
Nationwide:
March 15 through March 21 is National Sunshine Week. Sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, National Sunshine Week recognizes the importance of an open government and the public access of information.
