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Registered
Lucious Edward Harris
Sex offender linked to day-care operator
A registered sex offender, whose wife operated the home-based day-care center in Forest Hill that cared for a 1-year-old girl who is believed to have been sexually assaulted, has surrendered to police in response to a warrant that revoked his parole, police said.
Lucious Harris, 35, was being held Friday afternoon at the Forest Hill jail, said Lt. Chris Hebert, police spokesman.
The man voluntarily surrendered to police about 10 p.m. Thursday after a warrant was issued to revoke his parole, Hebert said.
The spokesman said that he did not know the reasoning behind the parole revocation. Parole of
ficials were unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
Hebert said, however, that Harris had not been named as an actual suspect in the sexual assault of the child, but he is, nevertheless "involved" in the case.
"He's certainly, at least, a potential witness," Hebert said. "Anyone who had contact with this child is someone who is a person of interest who we'll want to talk to."
The girl was examined by doctors at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth after her mother noticed blood in her diaper while changing her about 11 p.m. Tuesday, Hebert said.
Doctors found evidence consistent with a sexual assault, Hebert said.
Records kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety identified Harris as a registered sex offender who, earlier this year, was released from prison where he was serving a 10-year sentence on a 1996 conviction for sexual assault of a child.
In that case, the victim was a 17-year-old girl, the records show.
His current risk level
is "low," according to the records.
The records also show that Harris' address is 3617 Cobblestone Drive, which is the same address where his wife, Shandra Harris, operated the home-based day-care facility, Hebert said.
She was responsible, Hebert said, for reporting to state regulators that a registered sex offender was in the home where she was caring for children.
"That wasn't done," Hebert said.
Shandra Harris could not be reached for comment early Friday afternoon.
It was unclear Friday if Shandra Harris might have broke the law, Hebert said.
But the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which regulates day-care centers, can issue a variety of penalties for violations of standards, said Marissa Gonzales, spokeswoman for the agency.
Included is a temporary suspension of operations, which has already been ordered for the Forest Hill day-care, Gonzales said. Others include probation and actual revocation of a license.
Gonzales s
aid that the agency's licensing division "does inspections on a regular basis, but they're not there every week, so it's the responsibility of the day-care to report someone is living in the home."
Hebert said Friday that no suspects have been identified in the case.
"What I've said repeatedly is that our victim, being 1 year of age, can't communicate with us verbally," Hebert said, "so we have to be diligent about establishing an affirmative link about what happened. That's not an easy task.
"It's a very intensive investigation."
