Ex-officer sentenced for official oppression
By Lucretia Cardenas
Updated: 04.27.09
A former Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office warrants investigator is serving 30 days in jail and one year of deferred adjudication after pleading guilty to official oppression.
Monte Morast, 52, agreed to the terms Wednesday in the 284th state District Court and was booked into the Montgomery County Jail that afternoon.
The case against Morast stems from a March 2007 incident involving a student from a private school in Conroe. Morast was indicted on charges of official oppression and unlawful restraint of a child in January 2008. The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office investigated a complaint alleging Morast allowed jail inmates to make an Excel Academy student take off his clothes while on a jail tour.
[This article fails to mention that they also smeared Vaseline on his back side. One can only imagine what was being said.]
Morast, who served more than 10 years with the Sheriff’s Office, was fired following the indictment.
“Monte was an outstanding police officer who took time out of his personal life to help kids who were having problems,” said Stephen Jackson, Morast’s attorney. “He made a mistake trying to do a good thing and help a young man better his life.”
With a year in deferred adjudication and jail time, Morast’s sentence is nearly the maximum for the Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in prison.
“Based on the evidence and the circumstances, our office felt like this was an appropriate resolution,” said Phil Grant, first assistant district attorney for Montgomery County.
Prior to moving to Montgomery County in 1996, Morast served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army as a military police officer and criminal investigator. In 2003, Morast announced his candidacy in the Montgomery County sheriff’s race. He withdrew his name when Sheriff Guy Williams decided to run for re-election. Instead, Morast sought a seat on the Montgomery County Hospital District board but lost.
Excel closed last October:
http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 1009.shtml