A former Madison County sheriff's deputy turned himself in at the Burleson County Sheriff's Office in Caldwell early Thursday morning, where he was booked on felony charges of sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography before posting a $200,000 bond roughly two and a half hours later. Jerry Wayne Reyes, 24, was booked at 8:55 a.m. under booking number 23904 and released by 11:18 a.m. the same morning, according to jail records.
Reyes surrendered to law enforcement in Caldwell, about 65 miles from Madisonville, where he had worked as a sheriff's deputy, according to jail records cited by the Burleson County Sheriff's Office. His arrest came weeks after he left the Madison County Sheriff's Office, and as reported by the Greenville Chronicle, the Texas Rangers led the criminal investigation, with the Texas Department of Public Safety overseeing the ongoing case.
Radio station WTAW reported that Reyes served as a deputy with the Madison County Sheriff's Office for 21 months, from October 2024 until July 4, 2026 — nearly six weeks before his formal arrest and surrender. Madison County Sheriff Bobby Adams confirmed that employment timeframe to local media. It remains an open question whether Reyes' July departure was connected to the start of the state investigation or whether the allegations against him surfaced only after he had already left the agency.
Why State Investigators Took the Case
The Texas Department of Public Safety's Texas Ranger Division maintains a specialized Public Corruption Unit tasked with leading independent criminal investigations into public officials and law enforcement officers, a structure designed to avoid local conflicts of interest. That statewide framework helps explain why Rangers, rather than Madison County's own investigators, took the lead on a case involving one of the county's own former deputies.
The Madison County Sheriff's Office cooperated fully with state investigators throughout the probe, per the Greenville Chronicle's reporting, though the department released no further details at the time in order to protect the integrity of the active investigation. Sheriff Adams was re-elected in November 2024 to a four-year term running through the end of 2028, according to Ballotpedia. The office he leads is a small one: Discover Policing lists the Madison County Sheriff's Office, based in Madisonville in the Brazos Valley region, as staffing roughly 10 sworn peace officers for a rural county of about 13,000 residents.
What Reyes Is Facing in Court
Reyes faces felony counts of sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography, and he was released pending further court proceedings after posting bail Thursday morning. Under Texas Penal Code Section 22.011, sexual assault of a child is a second-degree felony carrying between 2 and 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to legal analysis from the Whalen Law Office. Texas sets the statutory age of consent at 17.
Possession of child pornography is generally charged in Texas as a third-degree felony for a first offense, punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, but the charge can escalate to a first-degree felony carrying up to 99 years if the child depicted is under 14, according to the Neal Davis Law Firm. It is not clear from available records which penalty range applies in Reyes' case.
Registry and Licensing Consequences Loom
A conviction under either statute would trigger mandatory, lifelong registration on Texas's public sex offender registry, in addition to any prison sentence, according to the Law Office of Mike Howard. Those registry records are publicly accessible in Texas.
Reyes' law enforcement career also hangs in the balance separate from the criminal case. Under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1701 and Texas Commission on Law Enforcement guidelines, peace officers facing felony charges or indictments are subject to mandatory administrative proceedings that can suspend or permanently revoke their license, per legal guidance from Bertolino LLP. Court proceedings for Reyes have not yet been scheduled, and it remains unclear whether his case will move forward in Madison County or in another judicial district given that his arrest took place in Burleson County.
