Transit Officer Faces Sex Charge
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:57 am
DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) officer faces sex charge
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - A DART patrol officer has been charged with having sex in a station bathroom with a 23-year-old woman he had arrested for solicitation.
Dallas police arrested Lance K. Bonner, 32, about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison. He was released from Lew Sterrett Justice Center hours later on a $1,500 bond.
Officer Bonner has been on paid leave since the incident in the early morning hours of Oct. 10. Dallas police Lt. Mike Scoggins said that about 3:20 a.m., Officer Bonner spotted a woman at a 7-Eleven get into a car with a man and drive away. He stopped them at Walnut Hill Lane and Harry Hines Boulevard, arrested the woman on suspicion of solicitation and told the man he could go, Lt. Scoggins said.
Officer Bonner took the woman to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center but stopped short of the sally port when she told the officer she had to use the bathroom. Lt. Scoggins said Officer Bonner told her that it would be better for her to use the DART transfer location in the 5100 block of Singleton Boulevard.
Lt. Scoggins said Officer Bonner followed the woman into the bathroom.
"He began negotiating for sex and told her that she could go free if she complied," he said.
Officer Bonner said that he arrested the woman for solicitation, authorities said. Weeks of investigation by Dallas detectives revealed that while she has a prostitution record, the woman had not solicited the man Officer Bonner found her with that night.
"The man at the 7-Eleven was someone she had asked for a ride," Lt. Scoggins said. "Her story checks out."
Also, Officer Bonner had no authority to make a solicitation arrest because the alleged offense did not occur at a DART facility, Dallas police said.
"He's still on paid leave pending the outcome of our administrative investigation, which will get underway now that the criminal investigation by Dallas is done," said Morgan Lyons, DART spokesman.
Officer Bonner joined the DART force in January 2003, Mr. Lyons said. He came to Dallas after four years with the Bowie County Sheriff's Department, and prior to that, he was an officer with the Atlanta, Texas, police department, both in northeast Texas, he said.
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - A DART patrol officer has been charged with having sex in a station bathroom with a 23-year-old woman he had arrested for solicitation.
Dallas police arrested Lance K. Bonner, 32, about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison. He was released from Lew Sterrett Justice Center hours later on a $1,500 bond.
Officer Bonner has been on paid leave since the incident in the early morning hours of Oct. 10. Dallas police Lt. Mike Scoggins said that about 3:20 a.m., Officer Bonner spotted a woman at a 7-Eleven get into a car with a man and drive away. He stopped them at Walnut Hill Lane and Harry Hines Boulevard, arrested the woman on suspicion of solicitation and told the man he could go, Lt. Scoggins said.
Officer Bonner took the woman to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center but stopped short of the sally port when she told the officer she had to use the bathroom. Lt. Scoggins said Officer Bonner told her that it would be better for her to use the DART transfer location in the 5100 block of Singleton Boulevard.
Lt. Scoggins said Officer Bonner followed the woman into the bathroom.
"He began negotiating for sex and told her that she could go free if she complied," he said.
Officer Bonner said that he arrested the woman for solicitation, authorities said. Weeks of investigation by Dallas detectives revealed that while she has a prostitution record, the woman had not solicited the man Officer Bonner found her with that night.
"The man at the 7-Eleven was someone she had asked for a ride," Lt. Scoggins said. "Her story checks out."
Also, Officer Bonner had no authority to make a solicitation arrest because the alleged offense did not occur at a DART facility, Dallas police said.
"He's still on paid leave pending the outcome of our administrative investigation, which will get underway now that the criminal investigation by Dallas is done," said Morgan Lyons, DART spokesman.
Officer Bonner joined the DART force in January 2003, Mr. Lyons said. He came to Dallas after four years with the Bowie County Sheriff's Department, and prior to that, he was an officer with the Atlanta, Texas, police department, both in northeast Texas, he said.
