A couple charged in the sexual assault of a 12-year-old that birthed a child belonging to the male assailant has been threatening the victim from jail, according to evidence presented in an Aug. 14 hearing in the Jefferson County Criminal District Court. Further, the $3-per-call charged by the jail is being subsidized for both defendants from child support payments meant for the support of the complaining victim.
Joshua Booker, 32, of Beaumont, and Danielle Davis, 30, of Port Arthur, both currently reside in the Jefferson County Jail on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, which resulted in the pregnancy of a child younger than the age of 14. The pair was arrested in October 2023, more than a year after the victim gave birth.
According to the affidavit for their arrest, Beaumont Police Department (BPD) Detective Frank Coffin III was dispatched to The Medical Center of Southeast Texas on Aug. 12, 2022, in reference to a 12-year-old who had just given birth. The baby was delivered, doctors believed, at approximately 37-38 weeks’ gestation, estimating conception occurred around the first week of December 2021.
During the investigation, the juvenile’s family members reported that the male who impregnated her was an adult family friend/cousin; however, the Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator advised Coffin of inconsistencies with the family’s account and that she was leery of this, and suspected Booker to be the father of the child.
The pre-teen new mother was later interviewed at the Garth House and, according to the detective, it was clear that the victim had been coached.
Davis, the victim’s mother, later responded to the police department to speak with detectives. At first, Davis reportedly denied knowing the juvenile was pregnant or even who could have been the father. Davis later admitted to detectives that Booker was the father and she had not notified the authorities because, if Booker was arrested, she would have lost his income, as the two were partners, Coffin stated.
According to the police account, Davis told the detective that she knew Booker had been sexually assaulting the juvenile approximately two months prior to the juvenile getting pregnant because the victim had made an outcry to her. Davis stated that she instructed the juvenile to lie to investigators about her outcry.
Booker’s DNA was collected and matched as the father of the victim’s infant child.
“Just when you think humanity cannot get to a lower level, they dig deeper into the ground and seek a lower level of existence…we’re talking about a 12-year-old giving birth and no one coming forward with the truth on how the child became impregnated,” Judge John Stevens observed during the couple’s court appearance in April.
Now, four months later, the pair were again called before Stevens – and again caused the judge to question just how depraved humans can be.
Booker, appearing first, was accused of making phone calls, electronic messages and written mailers threatening to have the victim’s father killed; through his attorney, Booker was in court to request a bond reduction.
Booker, defense attorney W. Marcus Wilkerson said, “has been locked up for quite some time,” and would greatly benefit from his bond being halved to $75,000 from the current $150,000. Prosecutor Daniel Boyd, presenting evidence that Booker was continuing to commit crime while in jail, asked for the current bond to be doubled.
“Look, you don’t want me out so I’m going to kill your daddy,” a message from Booker to the victim was read into the court record.
“That’s on my grandmother’s soul,” Booker said in yet another message to underscore his assertion that harm will come to those in support of the victim. A longer message read into court included yet another threat on the life of the victim’s father.
“You have apparently been caught, on at least three occasions, threatening to kill others,” Stevens summed up of the evidence. But there was more to come.
“The defendant was also sending hand-written letters to the individuals that were threatened,” Boyd added.
According to the prosecutor, the letters may have been relatively inexpensive, but the phone calls and electronic messages are very pricey. At $3 per call and message, for in excess of 6,200 communications, according to the math listed in court, the bill exceeded $18,000 - $20,000. For defendants claiming indigency, the court questioned how upwards of $20,000 could be collected for jail communication. According to Booker, the funds come from Social Security checks given to him by family members, as well as half of the child support paid by the father of the victim Booker is accused of impregnating.
“That’s criminal,” the judge presumed, as the child support order undoubtedly calls for the funds to be used for the care of the minor for which they are paid, he said.
“This is a real creative method of violating the rule of law,” Stevens added, but not one that he could allow to continue. “Illegal acts are being run through the county jail now. It’s being done in a surreptitious manner that needs to be stopped.
“What you have done, while in the jail, is very disturbing, to say the least.”
“These are threatening to kill others involved in a criminal case… it disturbs people. It disturbs the community,” Stevens noted when delivering his decision on the bond reduction request.
On Stevens’ order, Booker’s bond was doubled to $300,000. Booker, without objection, will no longer be allowed to communicate with persons outside of the jail via any electronic communication – except with his attorney. Additionally, all written communication will be subject to jail staff review before entering the mail.
“You have to look far and wide to find more unsettling circumstances,” than a pre-teen child being impregnated by a 32-year-old man, Stevens said, adding that Booker also has at least one prior violent felony against a family member that enhances the punishment range. “The nature demanded a high bond.”
“If you happen to post a bond, you will be placed in home confinement,” with no access to the victim or anyone on behalf of the victim, Stevens added. “There would be no amount of bond allowed if you, a third time, fail to follow the orders of the court.”
Davis, called second before the court with her attorney Langston Adams, was also accused of allegedly contacting the victim and manifesting “a pattern of threatening acts to others.”
“In their jail calls that were downloaded, Ms. Davis contacted the victim in this case… who is in the custody of her grandmother,” Boyd advised the court before playing a recording of a phone call in which Davis called her mother, Helen Shankle, and asked to speak to the sex assault victim. Voice recognition and a code special to defendant Davis affirm, a jail rep testified, that the person on the phone call was indeed Davis.
In the recorded call played for the court, Shankle stated that she was caring for the baby the victim birthed by her 32-year-old assailant, then put the victim on the phone.
“You been good?” Davis asked the victim. “You sure?”
“You need to let them know you didn’t tell me until the last minute (about the ongoing sexual assaults committed by Davis’ partner, Booker) ... so mamma can get up out of here,” Davis coached the child. In the same call, Davis asked if the child was going to testify against Booker and advised that, if the victim were to testify, it would cause Booker to have to spend “a long time” in jail.
“There’s lots of them,” Boyd said of Davis’ phone calls to reach out to the victim, as well as three-way calls that let Davis communicate with co-defendant Booker.
“You’ve got no business making her feel bad,” Stevens said of the defendant playing on the child’s feelings by insinuating that it would be the child’s fault if Booker went to jail. The judge then cut off Davis’ access to electronic communication and phone calls, except to her attorney, as well. “This is not going to happen again.”
Davis, whose bond is set at $100,000, did not ask for a bond reduction. Attorneys for both Davis and Booker have announced ready for trial.