Ex-coach indicted in alleged sexual assaults
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 9 2008 05:19 AM
By Justin Cox
Killeen Daily HeraldA former youth baseball coach and volunteer firefighter is facing 25 years to life in prison after he was indicted Wednesday on the most serious charge in the Texas legal system outside of capital murder.
A Bell County grand jury indicted William Thomas Jacobsen, 31, of Rogers, on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child or children Wednesday and is in custody on $500,000 bond. He is accused of having sex with two 13-year-old boys who were on the Little League team he coached.
His common-law wife, Marilyn McQueen Wesson, aka Marilyn Jacobsen, was indicted on a charge of hindering apprehension. Court records state that it was her idea to escape prosecution by fleeing to Mexico.
Jacobsen was arrested in Mexico on Aug. 9, perpetrated by public allegations of sexual assault by several of his male players under 14 years old.
The Bell County District Attorney's Office, which is investigating the case, is withholding details pending trial.
The sexual assault allegations came from teenage boys in Little River-Academy, where Jacobsen coached a youth baseball team and served as a volunteer firefighter. He was removed from both positions after the incident was first reported.
Jacobsen was arrested on the morning of Aug. 9, along with his common-law wife in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, while the couple were walking their dog.
Court records state that Wesson was identified by her daughter on surveillance tape while assisting authorities, despite the fact that she had changed her appearance.
Kevin Scott with the U.S. Marshals in Waco, said in August that Jacobsen, 31, and Wesson, 57, were arrested by Mexican authorities and were transferred across the border to the custody of U.S. Marshals in Laredo.
The investigation of Jacobsen began when a Bell County sheriff's deputy responded to a child sexual assault complaint on June 10 at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. A 13-year-old boy said his baseball coach sexually assaulted him, beginning in mid-2007 until the latest incident in June, the release stated.
During the investigation, three more children came forward and accused Jacobsen of assaulting them.
Authorities believed that Jacobsen fled, along with Wesson, to the Houston-Galveston area on June 21, just days before the district attorney's office issued the warrant on June 25.
Scott said the Bell County Sheriff's Office contacted U.S. Marshals in Waco to assist in the investigation.
The Marshals then developed leads that tracked Jacobsen and Wesson to the Laredo area after camera surveillance reportedly showed Wesson bringing items to a Laredo pawnshop on July 1.
Lt. James Lewing, of the Bell County Sheriff's Office, said Wesson pawned items at the shop to get cash.
On July 17, an arrest warrant was issued for Wesson on a charge of hindering the apprehension of Jacobsen after she was recorded on pawnshop surveillance.
The Marshals in Laredo worked with Mexican authorities to set up a stakeout, which ended with the couple's arrest Aug. 9.
Contact Justin Cox at
jcox@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7568.