Henderson County man arrested for touching girlfriend’s daughter

GUN BARREL CITY — According to our news partner KETK, an East Texas man is accused of sexually touching his girlfriend’s young daughter earlier this summer and has since been put behind bars. The 32-year-old man claims it was ‘all a misunderstanding.’

In a Henderson County arrest affidavit, on June 14 to June 15, the victim and her mom were staying at Daniel Joseph Rodgers’ house in Gun Barrel City.

The young girl explained that when it was bedtime, she was lying on the floor while her sisters were on the couch with the babies. Rodgers then went into the living room and told the victim that she could go to sleep in another room because he didn’t want her to sleep on the floor.

“Rodgers asked her why she was mad, [the victim] told him she was being punished for her sister’s actions,” the affidavit said. “[The victim] had previously gotten in trouble on her phone, and her mother locked the phone so she couldn’t play games and download apps. Rodgers told [the victim] she could play on his phone, but had to wait until her mom was lying down so she didn’t come check on her.”

The document said that Rodgers came into the bedroom three different times and found reasons to go into the bedroom to talk to the victim. “The first time he came in, he put his hand on her leg,” the document said. “[The victim] said she was uncomfortable, but didn’t want to say anything.”

The second time Rodgers came in the room, he brought her a cold drink and put it under her shirt, moving it up to her private parts, but she moved away. The third time, he put his hand inside her pants and then touched her private parts outside of her clothes.

After this incident, Rodgers allegedly began sending her messages through his smartwatch, saying he should “keep his hands to himself.” He gave the victim his phone at some point, but she said her phone could still receive messages.

The victim then went into where her mom was in bed and showed her the messages, the document said. Rodgers told her mom that “he didn’t mean it like that at all,” but the victim, her siblings and her mom packed up and left the house.

On June 15, Rodgers was interviewed by a Henderson County investigator, who told them it was “all a misunderstanding.” Rodgers told the officer that while he was in the room with his wife and girlfriends, he was texting the victim’s phone from his watch. “The message ‘unless you want me to’ was supposed to say ‘unless you want me to bring the fan I’m just going to grab my phone’ but the send button and the space button are close on the watch, and when he went to get up, he hit the send button accidentally.” the affidavit said.

Rodgers said that the message “well, I should probably keep my hands to myself so I don’t get carried away and do something you don’t want” meant that when he was going to get his phone, he didn’t want to get carried away trying and reach somewhere else she didn’t want.

Rodgers was arrested for indecency with a child: sexual contact and online solicitation of a minor on July 30, and is currently held at the Henderson County Jail without bond.