TEXARKANA, Texas–A 69-year-old Texarkana man accused of offering to pay a 13-year-old girl for sex has been charged with solicitation and indecency with a child.
Michael Jerome Clark Sr. is being held in the Bowie County jail with bonds totaling $225,000. Employees at Whataburger on New Boston Road called Texarkana, Texas, police on March 13 about an older man sitting at a table with a teen girl in a situation that the staff there found concerning and “inappropriate,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
The girl allegedly told a female patrol officer who responded to the restaurant that Clark had asked her for oral sex that day but wanted her to brush her teeth first. She also reported that he told her he would “hurt her” if he “didn’t see her naked that day.”
The girl reported that she’d met Clark in February and alleged that he had fondled her breasts after she declined to have sex with him for $50 during a roadside encounter. According to the affidavit, the teen was known to law enforcement as having traded sex for food in the past.
While sitting with Clark at the fast food locale, the girl was drinking a cup of water while he ate biscuits and gravy. During an interview at the Bi-State Justice Building that day, Clark allegedly said he had not bought the girl any food because “she said gravy makes her sick.”
“He never gave a clear answer as to why he did not purchase her a different item from the menu,” the affidavit said. “Clark said that eventually the employees gave [the girl] some food. He was never clear on why this happened.”
During the interview at the Bi-State, Det. Cliff Harris of the Texarkana Texas Police Department mentioned to Clark that the girl had probably not brushed her teeth, prompting Clark, who presumably was unaware of what the girl told the female patrol officer, to tell the detective that he had given the girl a toothbrush and watched her use it.
Clark allegedly told detectives that he didn’t know the girl’s real name and that he referred to her as “baby” although he reportedly admitted knowing she was 13.
If convicted of soliciting prostitution from a person under age 18 or of indecency with a child by sexual contact, Clark faces two to 20 years in prison on each count. Clark’s bond on the underage solicitation charge is set at $150,000 and bond on the indecency charge is set at $75,000.
The case has been assigned to District Judge John Tidwell in Bowie County.
