Police Chief May Be ‘nasty,' But His Attorney Says Sexual Assault Claim Unlikely

WAXAHACHIE -- Not long ago, Kevin Coffey was the top cop in a city of roughly 900 people.Now he's got legal trouble of his own.Coffey, 51, is on trial in Ellis County this week on allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenager while he was the Maypearl police chief. He is also accused of sending sexually explicit messages to another teen.Coffey has pleaded not guilty to charges of indecency with a child and sexual assault of a child.In opening statements Tuesday morning, prosecutors accused the former U.S. marine of betraying the trust of the people he was supposed to protect as a police officer.“You will learn that in 2015, the mask of Kevin Coffey -- the person we trusted, the person we gave the keys to our city to -- came off,” Assistant District Attorney Ricky Sipes told jurors.Prosecutors say Coffey talked to the young daughter of a water system worker on Skype and met her in his office, where he stuck his hands down her pants and his fingers in her genitals.Coffey’s defense attorney, James Jenkins, told jurors that testimony from his side will show it’s unlikely what the alleged victim said could “possibly have happened."“He’s not on trial for, you know, maybe being nasty, being ugly,” Jenkins said.But prosecutors have also alleged that Coffey sent inappropriate messages to another teenager in Maypearl.The girl, now 17, testified on Tuesday that she was “young, stupid” and insecure around age 14. She worked at her family's diner and went to rehab twice for abusing drugs.She testified that she initially thought it was cool that the cop was friendly with her. But, she said, Coffey would make comments about her body and send her messages that made her feel uncomfortable.One time, she said, he sent her a photo of handcuffs and told her he would “cuff u and put u on the hood again and smack that ass lol.”The girl said she kept quiet at first -- she didn’t want her mother’s business to be affected -- but eventually confided in a co-worker who told the girl’s mother. The Texas Rangers were notified.“He’s a cop and a family friend -- he shouldn’t be talking to me like that," the girl testified. None of the women who testified about Coffey's alleged advances are being named in this story. The News does not usually identify alleged victims in sex assault cases.The girl's mother said in testimony that she was shocked when she found out about her daughter's conversations with Coffey."I trusted him," the mom said, her voice shaking.Also on Tuesday, jurors heard a sexually explicit audio recording and written messages linked to Coffey's phone. Coffey, wearing a tan jacket and dark-colored pants, leaned forward in his chair as an investigator read some of the messages aloud.Coffey joined the Maypearl Police Department in 2010 and became police chief in 2013. He resigned shortly after his arrest in July 2015. A month after his arrest in Ellis County, authorities in Johnson County charged him with sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child by sexual contact and attempted indecency with a child. Court records say the charges are tied to an incident from 2001.In Hill County Coffey is charged with sexual performance by a child and indecency with a child, court records show.More on this case:  Continue reading...