‘Wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ Houston County jury convicts man of child sex crimes
A Houston County man convicted June 12 on 26 counts of child sex crimes was sentenced Wednesday to 65 years in prison, Houston County District Attorney Eric Edwards said.
Robert Dean Garza Jr., 46, was convicted by a jury of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes and sexual exploitation of children charges, which stem from him committing sexual acts on his friend’s two children, who were nine years old at the time. Judge Katherine Lumsden sentenced Garza to 65 years in prison. Within the first 25 years of his prison sentence, he will not be eligible for parole, according to Edwards. If paroled, he will be on probation for life.
It took the jury two hours to reach a verdict.
Edwards said that although Garza used “a mask of friendship and decency” to become involved in the lives of the family, it was ripped away.
“He will now spend likely the remainder of his life in a prison cell where he belongs,” Edwards said.
Garza believed he was in relationship with one of the children
Garza, who was a neighbor and a good friend of the parents of the two children, would often visit the family and stay the night, starting in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, according to Edwards. He would then use the time with the family to commit sexual acts on the children.
“Neither of the children immediately told anyone until a year and a half after the abuse began,” said Edwards. “The abuse came to light after one of the children told a friend who then told their parents.”
The parents then made a report to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office Division of Family and Child Services. The children were taken to the Rainbow House, an advocacy center for children in Warner Robins, where they revealed that, apart from the sexual acts, Garza had given them phones “that were used to share child pornography,” Edwards said.
Garza was arrested and an arrest warrant was issued on his phone, where deputies found that he had multiple photos and videos that contained child pornography. They also found text messages that indicated Graza believed “he was in a relationship with one of the children,” according to Edwards.
“The defendant was a well-liked man in his community with many friends who testified as character witnesses on his behalf during the trial,” said Justin Duane, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. “He had no prior felony criminal history and never missed a day of work. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
