Lubbock Police arrested Billy Joe Kelly, 37, early Thursday morning for one charge of indecency with a child, and one count of failing to register as a sex offender.
Police were called to the 2100 block of Ash Avenue when a grandmother reported Kelly had touched her underage granddaughter inappropriately. A police report said Kelly is the girl’s uncle.
The police report said the girl had been touched on her breast outside of her clothing.
It also said, “[The victim] stated she pretended like she was asleep because she did not know what to do.”
The police report said, “While [the victim] was speaking to me she appeared to be very upset and her eyes began watering.”
Kelly denied the allegation to both the grandmother and to police officers.
Court records said Kelly was previously convicted of sexual assault of a child in Swisher County. The police report said Kelly did register as a sex offender in Tulia. However, police quote the grandmother as saying Kelly had been living in her house in Lubbock for about a month.
The police report said, “[Kelly] is required to notify local law enforcement agency that the person intends to reside for more than seven days.” And it said Kelly, “failed to register his new address.”
His jail booking sheet listed him as a resident of Tulia. The police report listed his address the same as the grandmother’s address.
The Texas DPS sex offender registry listed Kelly as a high risk. It said his previous sex offender conviction was in 1995 and it involved a 4-year-old boy.
He was held in the Lubbock County Detention Center Friday on bonds totaling $25,000.
