Michael George Corey, 36, was assaulted in jail after returning from trial on Wednesday
A Texas man in jail for beating and sexually assaulting three siblings was himself assaulted by three fellow inmates fifteen times after they saw his trial on the news.
Michael George Corey, Jr. was attacked on Wednesday, said Wichita County Sheriff David Duke after reviewing video of the incident. The sheriff said it happened shortly after Corey’s trial was on TV.
He was being returned to a part of the jail that houses suspects accused of the most serious offenses when the attack – which lasted around one minute – happened.
Corey, 36, has been in jail for three-and-a-half years after he was arrested in February 2018 on 45 counts of sex crimes against a boy and two girls, ages 8, 10 and 11.
He’s being held on $675,000 bond.
Before that, he was out on 10 years’ probation on three counts of injury to a child in 2016. Both cases involve the same children.
In the first case, he allegedly forced the kids to bend over and take up to 90 ‘licks’ from a paddle with zip ties tied around it while his foster parents watched, according to Wichita Falls station KFDX. Charges against the foster parents were later dropped.
According to an affidavit for the latest case, he also forced the children to engage in sex acts with each other, and they did everything he told them to because their beatings would be more severe if they didn’t, KFDX reports.
Corey has been in Wichita County Jail in Texas since 2018 on 45 counts of sex crimes against three children, including continuous sexual sexual abuse and aggravated assault
During his trial on Thursday, a counselor said all three children showed signs of PTSD
Police said they found a laptop that the children said Corey would play pornography on during the abuse. Police also found video, though it’s not clear what the video depicts.
Corey’s 45 charges include 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, 12 counts of employing, inducing, or authorizing a child to engage in sexual performance, 10 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, five counts of indecency with a child by exposure and three counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14.
The abuse came to light after staff at the eight-year-old’s school told police, according to KFDX. Police discovered the other children’s abuse when they stopped at their mobile home in the 1100 block of Hawthorne.
Five jail officers intervened to stop Wednesday’s beating, which left Corey with a black eye
At the house, police found a wooden paddle with the words ‘Act Right’ written on it in black lettering, according to USA Today.
The 10-year-old girl told authorities that Corey would have her bend over and touch some bricks outside in the front yard of a residence.
If she moved or fell to the ground, she had until the count of three to get back up or Corey would start over the number of times he was going to hit her.
Sometimes, she said, he didn’t give her a chance and would just keep hitting whatever part of her body he could reach while she was on the ground.
Tammy Lynn Vaughn, the foster parent, allegedly sat next to her to count the number of slaps.
She told police back in 2016 that she didn’t have a ‘reasonable explanation’ for why she didn’t’ report the abuse, according to USA Today.
Court officials saw Corey with a bruise and a black eye the day after he was assaulted on Wednesday.
Sheriff Duke said five jail officers intervened in less than a minute to stop the beating. The three inmates will face charges. Corey’s trial will resume on Monday.
An eight-woman, four-man jury will determine Corey’s future.
During his trial on Thursday, a counselor said all three children showed signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome, according to KFDX.
One of the girls said she was physically and sexually assaulted more than 20 times and that she saw her brother being sexually abused multiple times.
The boy told the counselor he had trouble hearing because of Corey hitting him in the head. The boy had previously been taken to the hospital because his injured ear was bleeding.
He also said he was physically abused multiple times, but that he didn’t want to talk about being sexually abused.