A jury in Grimes County took 15 minutes to find 79-year-old Robert Shannon Crawford guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child — an offense that happened in 1995, the Grimes County District Attorney's Office reported in a Facebook post.
He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.
On June 12, 2021, the Navasota Police Department took a report of a child being sexually assaulted.
During the investigation, a detective found that a 14-year-old boy was sexually assaulted three different times by Crawford, the final time happened in 2020.
On June 25, 2021, one of Crawford’s relatives told authorities about another victim.
As the detective continued to investigate, he uncovered another aggravated sexual assault victim who was a 12-year-old girl at the time.
They found Crawford got her pregnant then took her to an abortion clinic in Houston. This crime wasn’t reported.
More witnesses came forward during the investigation who confirmed the 1995 sexual assault and/or abortion.
The victim interviewed this victim who admitted the assault happened inside of Crawford’s home, which was in Navasota at the time.
Just three days later, on June 28, the detective received information about a third victim from an adult woman who had heard about the investigation.
The woman told the detective the allegations “triggered a memory from her childhood.”
She said she was a teenager in the 1970’s when a childhood friend told her about a “horror story” involving Crawford.
The woman told law enforcement her friend lived near Crawford in Conroe.
Then, on Sept. 4, 2021, a District Attorney’s Office Investigator met with the detective to conduct an interview with Crawford at the Navasota Police Department.
During the two-hour long interview, Crawford admitted to the sexual assaulted reported by the 14-year-old boy.
He also admitted to sexually assaulting the then 12-year-old girl.
During the interview, Crawford admitted to having the girl pee in a container and taking the sample to a clinic to have it tested for pregnancy, which ended up being positive.
At the end of the interview, Crawford said he had a one-way ticket for Mexico and he was to leave the next day.
An arrest warrant was obtained and Crawford was arrested the same day.
During the arrest, Crawford had a passport and was wearing a belt designed to hide money.
After the arrest, on September 8, 2021, a fourth victim, who lives in Mexico City, came forward.
She was born in Mexico, came to the U.S. with a relative who was in a relationship with Crawford in the 1980s.
The victim was a 5th grader at the time at Navasota ISD and described multiple sexual assault abuse incidents ranging from indecency with a child to aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Crawford ended up taking the victim back to Mexico, leaving her there.
During his trial, investigators provided multiple forms of evidence including recorded phone calls and witness statements.
The jury gave Crawford a punishment verdict of life in prison and gave him the maximum allowable fine of $10,000.
Crawford is in the Grimes County Jail awaiting a transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
