Georgetown police officer accused of sex assault and kidnapping

GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) - A Georgetown police officer has been indicted on charges of detaining a woman during a domestic disturbance call and then sexually assaulting her at gunpoint.

Sgt. Jimmy Lewis Fennell Jr., 34, was being held Wednesday in the Williamson County Jail with bail set at $250,000.

A Williamson County grand jury indicted Fennell on Tuesday on felony charges of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and improper sexual activity with a person in custody. He was also charged with official oppression.

District Attorney John Bradley declined to release more details about the case, citing the possibility of a future trial.

Fennell, a nine-year veteran of the department, has been on paid administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation of the alleged Oct. 26 crimes.

A jail official said Wednesday morning that she didn't have access to information on Fennell's attorney of record.

In 1996, Fennell's fiance, 19-year-old Stacey Stites, was found strangled on the side of a road near Bastrop. Investigators at the time ruled out Fennell, who was working as a Giddings police officer, as a suspect.

Rodney Reed was sentenced to death in 1998 for Stites' killing, but last year appealed on the grounds that the testimony of two witnesses who didn't take the stand in his trial might have exonerated him.

One of those witnesses testified that Fennell had bragged that he would strangle his girlfriend with a belt if he learned she was cheating on him.

Reed's lawyers have said Fennell should be a suspect in Stites' death.

"In terms of Rodney's case, if what is alleged (about Fennell) is true, that is obviously going to be significant to Rodney's case," said Reed's attorney Bryce Benjet.

Reed's conviction hinged largely on the fact that his semen was found on Stites' body. He later claimed he had an affair with her.