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Sexual Assault | Ex-youth facility staffer charged in sex assault

Posted on May 10, 2011

A former staffer at a residential treatment facility in Katy has been charged with sexual assault of a child, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl who lived at the center.

Investigators believe Robert Paul Gentry, 28, had sex with the girl in a southwest Houston apartment on Dec. 1, said Emma Rodriguez, a Houston police officer assigned to an FBI task force investigating crimes against children.

Rodriguez said she did not know Gentry's position at the home. Officials for the treatment facility said Gentry is no longer employed there, but declined to give any details, citing privacy rules.

The facility has room for 65 youths, ages 12 to 17, with emotional disorders, according to the state's regulatory website.

Scott Carroll, a spokesman for Lutheran Social Services, a nonprofit organization that operates two other similar facilitiesin Texas, said employees generally are screened with background checks. Carroll would not discuss Gentry.

Gentry was released Sunday on a $20,000 bond after being arrested last week. He could not be reached for comment, and his attorney did not return calls.

Gwen Carter, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family Services, said the agency investigated and has stopped placing foster children in the facility while regulators work with the center's management to address possible violations.

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