Eric Anthony Renfro
Photo taken Friday, 4/5/19
Guiseppe Barranco/The EnterpriseA community figure and former city council candidate has been arrested after being indicted on charges of indecency with a child stemming from a series of incidents that began decades ago.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an adult woman reported to Child Protective Services in January 2020 that she had been sexually abused by Eric Anthony Renfro.
Beaumont Police Detectives followed up and learned that the woman was an adult, and was referring to abuse that occurred years ago starting in 2005, when she was 4 or 5.
The accuser identified Renfro as the abuser to police and alleged he had groped her when she was a child over the course of several years, starting in 2005.
Over the course of the investigation, detectives reached out to Renfro for comment, but he declined according to court documents.
Renfro worked as a Sales and Lease Consultant for Group 1 Automotive, and ran for an at-large Beaumont City Council position in 2019.
According to Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham, Renfro was arrested yesterday at 1:30 p.m. He was released on a $100,000 bond between 6:30 and 7:00 Wednesday evening, Wortham said.
A court unsealed the indictment Thursday morning, a day after he was arrested.
This story will be updated.
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