Thomas Harmon DeMont, 49, is charged with indecency with a child.
The alleged incident dates back to April, when a 13-year-old girl and her mother went to Houston police. But it is a Jacinto City police officer who was arrested. Captain T H DeMont was head of the internal affairs division, investigating crooked cops.
"It disappoints me because we look for them to be there for us to help and if they're the ones doing that, then where do we go, what do we do, who do we trust?" resident Lorinda Pesina said.
The girl is said to be the daughter of a woman who knows DeMont and asked for his help in "scaring her straight." The girl and DeMont met at her uncle's apartment, according to authorities, where the events leading up to the charge allegedly took place.
Jacinto City Police Chief JM Ayala says DeMont has been with the department since 1999. He was placed on administrative leave on Tuesday.
Ayala issued the following statement: "Police Captain T H DeMont is currently on administrative leave with pay pending an internal affairs investigation on a complaint received from the Houston Police Department on an allegation of indecency with a child by exposure. The Texas Rangers have been requested to investigate the allegations. There is no further comment."
DeMont is being held in the Fort Bend County Jail on $50,000 bond.
