NEW BOSTON, Texas–A jury was selected on Tuesday to decide the child sex abuse case of a Bowie County man who opted to plead guilty before testimony was to begin on Wednesday.
Ronald Wayne Foster Jr., 52, took a 60-year plea deal after 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison ruled that a self-made recording of Foster talking about his deviant sexual behavior with kids could be played at trial for a jury, Bowie County Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins said.
If a jury of 12 had found Foster guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl, he could have received five to 99 years or life on each count. Rather than risk a potential trio of life terms, Foster opted for a plea bargain including three concurrent 60-year sentences.
He must register as a sex offender upon release from prison.
“When law enforcement, the district attorney’s office and victims work together to end child abuse, that’s exactly what we do,” Akins said. “We have to send the message that the abuse of children won’t be tolerated here. We will continue to fight for children and protect them to our fullest extent.”
Foster, who is related to the victim by marriage, is not the only person who was charged in the case. His wife, Kimberly Gilliland, 30, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor family violence assault charge in May for roughly squeezing the face of a child as she allegedly instructed them to keep quiet about Foster’s misconduct, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She was initially charged with felony witness tampering but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in May and received a two-year probation.
Foster has been held in the Bowie County jail since his arrest in November 2021. He will remain there until he is transported to a unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
