Beaumont uncle indicted for raping 8-year-old

After proposing and failing a polygraph to purportedly prove his innocence, a 47-year-old man was indicted June 2 for aggravated sexual assault of a child for allegedly raping his niece days before Christmas Day 2020.

Tuesday, Jan. 28, a report was filed with the Texas Department of Protective Services (DPS) regarding an 8-year-old girl making an outcry of sexual abuse to her teacher, according to the indictment. At the Garth House, investigators conducted a forensic interview with the child, who told them she was raped “a few days before Christmas” by her aunt’s husband, Jerry Jenkins.

The victim told investigators the man she knows as “J” instructed the child to take off her clothes and go to a back room at her aunt’s residence. The indictment says Jenkins yelled at the child after she initially refused to follow his orders before raping her.

The alleged assault came to light after a conversation in a school cafeteria between the victim and her teacher. According to the indictment, the victim told her teacher that her uncle “put his private part inside her private part,” causing her to cry. Police took statements from the victim’s teacher and principal, as well as from a third teacher, all of whom confirmed the victim told them the same story.

Jenkins provided police with a voluntary statement in which he denied touching or penetrating his niece and asked if he could take a polygraph examination. That examination concluded that Jenkins was being deceptive, meaning he failed.