RICHARD LEIGH BELL viol@t$d a young girl.
This abuse started when she was TWO YEARS OLD and continued until she was SEVEN. Two to seven. A toddler. A preschooler. A first grader. These are the ages when kids are learning colors, getting potty trained and tying shoes. Meanwhile this grown man, her moms boyfriend, 37 year old RICHARD LEIGH BELL, was violating her childhood in ways she will spend the rest of her life trying to untangle. And if that wasn’t sick enough, he actually told people that she “came onto him” at age two. That is the kind of monster we’re talking about. A man who can look at a baby and twist reality into something that excuses him. That alone should have been enough to lock him away forever.
She is nine now. She finally found the courage to tell her father, trembling as she spoke. And do you know what he found after all of this? A note in her room that said, “I want to die.” His nine-year-old daughter genuinely believed that what this man did to her “broke her brain.” She spiraled over tiny, harmless things because trauma convinced her everything was her fault. She would cry over chewing on a piece of rubber because she felt like she had to confess to something. Anything. She was carrying guilt that never belonged to her in the first place.
And do you want to know what Texas gave the man who caused all of that?
Freedom.
Nine felony child sex charges. Continuous sexual abuse. Multiple counts of aggravated s$xual a$$ault. Indecency with a child. Every single one dropped. Travis County prosecutors Efrain De La Fuente and Lorraine Garcia erased them all and let him plead guilty to “injury to a child.” Five years deferred probation. If he behaves, he gets to walk away without a conviction. Meanwhile this little girl is left trying to rebuild her entire sense of self from the ashes.
The father wasn’t even given a real choice. He walked into court expecting prison, accountability, something that reflected the hell his daughter has lived with since she was two. Instead he was told, “This is the deal.” Take it or leave it. Imagine being told that the man who stole your daughter’s innocence from age two to seven gets to go home tonight.
But here’s the part prosecutors ignored: this little girl is a warrior. She joined Bikers Against Child Abuse and fifty motorcycles rode out for her ceremony. She has primaries who show up for her day or night. She refuses to call herself a victim. She is fighting to put herself back together with a level of bravery no child should ever need to have.
She’s healing. But healing doesn’t erase trauma. Not at nine. Not after what was done to her. Not after carrying this since age two. And while she fights every day to feel safe again, the man who shattered her childhood gets to walk free like nothing happened.
I am so sick of watching Texas leaders preach about protecting children while cases like this keep happening. This case. Audrii Cunningham. Andrew Taake. Uvalde. Over and over again, children pay the price while the adults in charge look the other way.
This isn’t justice. It’s betrayal. It tells every child who speaks up that their pain can be bargained away. That their trauma is negotiable. That predators deserve mercy more than kids deserve protection.
We showed up for Jesse Mack Butler’s victims. I need you to show up for this little girl too. If this makes your blood boil, it should. Share this story. Comment. Speak out. And if you haven’t already, sign the petition in my bio to end plea deals for child predators.
