Former Local Police Chief Indicted, Sexual Assault Case Remains Open

A man who recently served as Chief of Police in Crawford is still under investigation for sexual assault, but the case is slowly moving forward.

According to a report from our news partners at KWTX, Clay Bruton was indicted April 15, for tampering with physical evidence in an investigation where he is accused of sexual assault.

The Texas Rangers opened an investigation into Bruton on July 24, 2020.

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In an interview on August 19, 2020 with Texas Rangers, Bruton admitted to having sexual relations with three women, only identified by police as "Victim 1.1", "Victim 1.2", and "Victim 1.3." The Texas Ranger told Bruton that his phone would need to be seized for review in the investigation. Bruton eventually agreed to hand over his phone, but while the Ranger was out of view, he deleted the conversations he had with the victims.

“Chief Bruton then admitted openly and confessed that he deleted porn videos and pictures of his girlfriend for the phone in question when I was outside,” the investigator wrote in the affidavit.

Bruton was arrested the next day, but was later released after posting a $5,000 bond. Just a month later, Bruton was arrested on a warrant charging sexual assault. Once again, Bruton was later released on a $200,000 bond from the Bell County Jail.

I hope that the victims of Bruton are safe while he is free on bond, but I'm sure they certainly don't feel that way. Bruton threatened the victims if word were to ever get out about him and he's free now to intimidate them.