Former Baylor frat president could spend Christmas behind bars after lawyer withdraws bond cut proposal

On November 27, 2024By Pranco

WACO, TX (KWTX) – A former Baylor University president who is at risk of having his deferred probation revoked will likely spend Christmas in the McLennan County Jail this year after his attorney withdrew a bond reduction motion Tuesday.

Jacob Walter Anderson, former president of Baylor’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity, was jailed this week after McLennan County prosecutors filed a motion to find his guilt and revoke his probation. His attorney had scheduled a hearing Tuesday in Waco’s 19th State District Court in which he would ask visiting Judge Roy Sparkman to reduce Anderson’s $250,000 bond.

However, before Anderson’s hearing was held, his attorney, Charles Johnson, and prosecutor Alyssa Killin met with Sparkman while a hearing was being held for former Catholic priest Anthony Odiong.

When they came forward, they said only that Johnson had withdrawn his motion to reduce the bonds and that Sparkman had set a status conference in Anderson’s case for December 19, where they will discuss when Anderson’s probation revocation hearing can take place are held.

Killin and Johnson both declined comment after leaving the judge’s chambers.

Anderson, 29, who was accused of sexually assaulting a Baylor sophomore at an off-campus house known as the “Phi Delt Ranch” during a party in 2016, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint and received a deferred probation period. for three years. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss four sexual assault charges against Anderson in a settlement that sparked public outrage and spawned a petition signed by more than 85,000 people opposing the settlement.

Baylor expelled Anderson and suspended the fraternity in the wake of the allegations. The victim reached undisclosed settlements with the fraternity and at least 17 fraternity members in a civil lawsuit.

Sparkman was assigned to Anderson’s revocation case after 19th State District Judge Thomas West recused himself because West was working at the law firm Dunnam & Dunnam in Waco when attorneys there represented the woman in her civil lawsuit.

In deferred probation cases, there is no final judgment of guilt if the defendant successfully completes probation. In Anderson’s case, prosecutors are asking West to find him guilty, revoke his probation and put him in jail. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the third-degree criminal charge.

Anderson, a Garland resident, was placed on three years of deferred probation in 2018 and was supervised by the Dallas County Probation Department in a specialized sex offender case. His probation was extended for another three years after a number of violations, including accessing the Internet to view sexually explicit material and later to stream music.

His internet privileges were revoked and in February 2021, Anderson admitted to “having sexually deviant fantasies about minors,” resulting in modified no-contact orders with minors and child safety zone restrictions.

That same month, Anderson’s sex offender counselor recommended that his probation be extended for at least three years because “Mr. Anderson’s almost indiscriminate arousal for behavior involving power/control, degradation, and violence reflects an individual who would pose a significant threat to the community, especially those with whom he is in a relationship, if left unsupervised.” according to court records.

On November 4, Anderson’s probation officer noted that he had disclosed to his therapist that he was “sexualizing” a baby boy and inappropriately touching him while he was changing his diaper.

“He said he kept it a secret because in his mind it meant he was abusing him,” according to probation records. “He said he wasn’t going to continue with it because he was on probation and trying to do what he thought he could ‘get away with’.”

“It appears that the defendant has demonstrated minimal improvement or changes in his sexually deviant behavior since beginning sex offender treatment,” a probation report said. “Therefore, due to the numerous technical violations and the continued threat to public safety posed by the suspect, it is the recommendation of the McLennan County Community Supervision and Corrections Department that the suspect’s probation be revoked in its entirety.”

During Anderson’s sentencing hearing in December 2018, the victim condemned the plea deal. In an emotional victim impact statement, she described in graphic detail what Anderson had done to her.

“When I was completely unconscious, he threw me face down in the mud and left me there to die,” the woman said. “He had taken what he wanted, had proven his power over my body. Then he walked home and without a second thought went to bed with the ravaged, half-dead woman he had left behind.