By C1 Staff
DECATUR, Texas — A Wise County sheriff’s deputy stands accused of forcing sex offenders to take nude photos while registering for the state’s sex offender database.
WFAA reports that the 28-year-old man speaking up claims he was recently released from prison after serving time for indecent exposure.
“I was intoxicated, and I flashed a group of people. Some of them were underage, and I didn’t know they were underage,” he said.
When he went to register as a sex offender at the Wise County Sheriff’s office in June, he claims that Deputy Chad Hightower told him there was a new state law requiring all sex offenders be photographed in the nude. The man says Hightower escorted him to a bathroom, where the photographs were taken.
The man came back a few weeks later for a follow-up visit and Hightower took him to a county impound lot after saying the initial photographs didn’t turn out well.
Again Hightower took more photos, asking the man to become aroused, which he refused to do so.
The man eventually went to outside authorities, and after a Texas Ranger investigation, Hightower was arrested late last week.
“I feel very uncomfortable,” the man said. “I know some people are gonna say I should feel what the victims felt, but I didn’t molest anyone or anything.”
When investigators inspected Hightower’s county camera, they found images of “…several more nude males that appeared to be in the same bathroom […] others are in the county impound office and yet more in what appears to be a residence.”
Hightower is on leave from the sheriff’s office and has reportedly filed retirement papers with the county. He posted a $25,000 bond and currently faces a felony charge of improper photography.