A 47-year-old El Paso man has been sitting in county jail since October 9, accused of sexually abusing a young relative for years and allegedly fathering a child with her when she was 15. Robert Wade Vandever was booked into the El Paso County Jail on October 9 on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and his $75,000 bond was set on October 11, according to jail records.
The allegations, laid out in an arrest report and first detailed by KFOX, describe abuse stretching from January 2019 through December 2025, beginning when the victim was just 11 years old. She told investigators the assaults happened anywhere from once a month to once a week over that span. The report also says she became pregnant at 15 and believes Vandever fathered the child because she had no sexual contact with anyone else — though the available evidence does not independently confirm paternity.
What the Victim Told Investigators
According to the arrest report, the victim said that when she refused Vandever, he took it out on other people, becoming physically and verbally abusive. Her account forms the backbone of the case against Vandever, who remained behind bars on the $75,000 bond as of Friday afternoon, November 6, 2026, per the same jail records cited by KFOX.
Court-side reporting from Telemundo adds further detail from the docket, though its account of the charges differs from what KFOX reported from jail records. Telemundo says court records show Vandever facing one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, four counts of sexual assault of a child, and one count of prohibited sexual conduct — a different charge set than the single aggravated sexual assault of a child charge KFOX attributed to jail records. Neither outlet's reporting explains the discrepancy. Telemundo's article describes the victim as 18.
Nine-Month Gap Before Arrest Still Unexplained
One of the lingering questions in the case is why Vandever's arrest came so long after the allegations first surfaced. KFOX has reached out to the El Paso County District Attorney's Office to ask why the arrest occurred roughly nine months after the allegations were shared, and the station says it will update its reporting once officials respond. As of now, no explanation from the DA's office has been made public.
That silence lands against the backdrop of a broader strain on El Paso's court system. District Attorney James Montoya has said the office was managing a backlog of about 7,000 pending felony cases across the county's 11 district courts, including roughly 700 cases dating back before 2021 — some involving murder and child sexual assault charges filed as far back as 2018, according to the same KFOX reporting on the office's case backlog. Montoya has also said that the number of cases simply awaiting entry into the DA's system fell from more than 7,000 in 2023 to fewer than 400 more recently, a sign of progress even as older cases continue working through the pipeline.
Vandever's case has not reached a resolution, and the evidence reviewed does not establish guilt or any final outcome. Hoodline will continue to follow this story as new information becomes available from the El Paso County District Attorney's Office.
