A former Texas GOP official was hit with over four centuries of jail time after pleading to child sexual abuse charges.
Bo Michael Dresner was arrested in April 2019 after allegations of child molestation surfaced against him. At the time, he was serving as the precinct chair and sergeant-at-arms for the Hays County Republican Party. The county is situated just southwest of Austin, with its seat being in the city of San Marcos.
In 2019, an investigation into Dresner began after a child came forward claiming that he had “sexually molested” her. Not long after it began, the local GOP official was pulled over by deputies with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office en route to an airport with a one-way ticket for Armenia, a country that would not have extradited him to the U.S.
A deeper search of his possessions turned up a computer on which he had searched the internet for information about countries with no extradition agreements with the U.S. It also contained “hundreds of thousands” of child pornography images, broadening the scope of his eventual charges. Another child also came forward during the investigation to accuse Dresner of sexual abuse.
He was ultimately hit with four counts related to the abuse of the child who first accused him, and a further 61 charges of possession of child sexual abuse material with the intent to promote.
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After having first pleaded not guilty, Dresner switched his plea to guilty for all charges after his trial began, leading to the dismissal of the jury and changing the proceedings to a punishment hearing. Evidence presented included testimony from his daughter and another child who had previously lived in his home.
Judge Gary Steel of the 274th District Court gave Dresner a 75-year sentence for the abuse charges, according to a report from MySanAntonio, and further sentences of between 10 and 20 years each for the child pornography counts. In total, Dresner was sentenced to 410 years in prison.
In a statement about the sentence, Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins said that her office “will continue to work diligently to hold those who engage in sexual violence and molestation accountable.”
Newsweek reached out to Higgins’ office via email on Tuesday afternoon for comment.
Dresner was previously accused of sexual assault in Minnesota by a 15-year-old in Minnesota. He later received a “reduced” sentence, according to MySanAntonio, after pleading guilty. One of the victims who testified in the current case also made allegations against him in 2012.
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