Tyler

EDITOR’S NOTE: The names of the victims in this article are not named in keeping with the Tyler Morning Telegraph’s policy to protect the identity of victims of sexual abuse and to encourage the reporting of such crimes.

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Andevron Parchman was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Parchman, 21, of Tyler, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child for a Jan. 18, 2006 incident. A Smith County jury in 7th District Judge Kerry Russell’s court sentenced him to the maximum punishment after about 30 minutes of deliberation.

The victim and two other teenage girls testified Wednesday about being sexually assaulted — either by force or with their consent while they were underage — by Parchman.

The defendant was convicted of sexual assault of a child by a jury in November 2007 for raping a 15-year-old girl on Nov. 21, 2006, and was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison by Russell.

The judge granted the state’s motion to stack the two 20-year sentences so Parchman will have to serve half of the 40-year sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Parchman also has a pending aggravated sexual assault of a child charge for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl on June 1, 2005. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of that charge.

The three victims testified about their relationships with Parchman. The defendant’s mother testified she had met all three girls and they told her they were 17.

The victim, for whom Parchman was sentenced today, a 17-year-old girl, testified she had been seeing Parchman for about a month before the Jan. 18, 2006, incident, which happened when she was 14.

Parchman and Vonkendrick White, 19, picked her up and took her to Parchman’s house. She said she was having consensual sex with Parchman when White came into the bedroom and raped her.

The men then dropped her off at a high school basketball game, where they had picked her up.

That night, she said, she told her mother, who called police and took her to the hospital to get examined.

She said she talked to police and identified Parchman and White through photo lineups.

White was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child for the incident. That charge was dismissed on July 1, according to Smith County records.

When questioned by the defense attorney, the girl said she was intimate with White before she began seeing Parchman.

The victim for whom Parchman has already been convicted of sexually assaulting testified that she was 15 when she was dating Parchman’s roommate in November 2006. She said her boyfriend was at work and she was asleep in his bedroom when she awakened to someone having sex with her. She said Parchman held her hands down while he raped her.

When her boyfriend got home, she told him what happened and he told her mother, who called police and took her to a hospital.

Kristy Link, a forensic scientist with the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Garland, testified that Parchman’s DNA was found on the 14- and 15-year-old victims.

A 16-year-old girl testified she met Parchman when she was 13 and he was 18.
She said she was at his house the first time they had sex and that Parchman told her not to tell anyone.

Smith County Sheriff Sgt. Tony Dana testified about his investigations of the cases.
He said he believed the 13-year-old girl felt like if she didn’t have sex with Parchman, she wouldn’t get to see him anymore. He said he believed the girl’s mother was against the girl instead of supporting her.

Dana read from letters Parchman wrote the girl, referring to their sexual relationship.

Assistant Smith County district attorneys Richard Vance and Greg Cole prosecuted the case while Nancy Rumar represented Parchman.

Andevron Parchman
(Courtesy Smith County Sheriff)