Burnet County Grand Jury

Special to The Highlander

On Aug. 6, a Burnet County grand jury indicted two owners of a boys home outside of Bertram on human trafficking charges, according to a press release.

After evidence was presented from an “extensive investigation into their operation” of the Joshua Home for boys, the grand jury recommended indictments against 49-year-old Gary Dwayne Wiggins and 34-year-old Meghann Shereen Wiggins.

The charges are one count each of trafficking of persons: continuous, a first degree felony.

A Cottonwood Shores man accused of striking and killing a pedestrian with his truck at Lakeside Park after the Fourth of July fireworks has been indicted on second-degree charges of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle as well as manslaughter and accident involving death.

Thomas Joseph Pfeifer Jr., 33, was indicted by a Burnet County grand jury on Wednesday, Sept. 5, and was taken into custody on Sunday, Sept. 10. He is set to be arraigned before Judge Allan Garrett at 9 a.m. Oct. 27. Pfeifer has hired local defense attorney Eddie Shell to represent him.

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH
HIGHLAND LAKES NEWSPAPERS
A family of three has been indicted on charges stemming from an alleged aggravated kidnapping in May of last year.
James Russell Graves, 45, of Hoover Valley, son Ty Russell Graves, 18, of Hoover Valley, and Ty's mother Patricia Michelle Neff, 45, of Georgetown, were all indicted on charges of aggravated kidnapping for ransom on July 7.
James Graves was taken into custody Thursday, July 21, to face criminal proceedings.
The charges stem from an incident on Monday night, May 18, 2015, when between 9:30 -10 p.m., Marble Falls police got a call from a 26-year-old man who stated he was at Walmart and had been held against his will.
“He told officers that there was a vehicle outside with ‘bad people with guns,’” Marble Falls Police Sgt. Tom Dillard said during the investigation. “When officers arrived, they found exactly what he described.”