U.S. District Court Judge Charged
With Attempted Sex Abuse

(FBI) U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent, 59, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Houston for allegedly attempting aggravated sexual abuse and for abusive sexual touching of a clerk’s office employee, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich announced.

The indictment, returned today in the U.S. District Court in Houston, charges Kent with one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse on March 23, 2007, and two counts of abusive sexual contact, which is alleged to have occurred on Aug. 29, 2003, and March 23, 2007.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy Chief for Litigation Peter J. Ainsworth and Trial Attorneys John P. Pearson and AnnaLou T. Tirol, of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, which is headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. This case is being investigated by the FBI.

An indictment is merely an allegation. Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.