| Inmate name: | Kenyan Dahomey Rodgers |
| Charge description: | On September 13, 2016, a 45-year-old former Fort Bend ISD elementary school teacher and band instructor was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a child. Kenyan Dahomey Rodgers was sentenced to 30 years in prison for Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child or Children after pleading guilty to the indictment. He also received a 25-year prison sentence in Harris County for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child involving the same child. The sentences will run concurrently. The case was heard before 240th District Court Presiding Judge Chad Bridges. Judge Bridges rendered the sentence pursuant to a plea agreement reached between the State and the defendant, who was represented by attorney Warren Fitzgerald. Under Texas law, the defendant will not be eligible for release for 30 years, after serving the full sentence in the Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child or Children case. Evidence presented by prosecutors Lisa P. Gregg and Jenna Rudoff, both assigned to the Child Abuse Division in the Fort Bend County District Attorneys Office, revealed that Rodgers had engaged in repeated sexual contact with the child at an elementary school between 2012 and 2013. According to Gregg, the Deputy Chief of the Child Abuse Division, the majority of times, child victims do not tell right away when they have been sexually abused by someone they know. When they do tell, they may not reveal all of the abuse at first either. In this case, the crime was discovered in July 2013 when Rodgers was found in a vehicle with the child at a band camp at Texas Southern University. The authorities were contacted immediately, and the resulting investigation uncovered abuse that had been occurring for nearly a year and a half. Jenna Rudoff praised the child victim, This young lady endured continued sexual abuse by someone she should have been able to trust. She is a wonderful girl who has a lot to be proud of and it took great courage to come forward and face her abuser. Because she was able to stand up for herself by telling what happened to her, she stood up for all child victims as well. Ms. Gregg went on to say Unfortunately, all too often, children hide what has happened to them. We want children to know that it is never their fault when they are abused and there is help when they come forward. |
| Booking location: | Fort Bend County, TX |
