A Collin County jury convicted 65-year-old Donald Byron Joachim today of continuous sexual abuse of a child and handed down the legal equivalent of throwing away the key: life in prison with no chance of parole. Prosecutors said the abuse started when the victim was a toddler and continued through age 13, stretching across multiple Texas communities.
According to the Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, Joachim, a Rosenberg resident, abused the child in Celina, Canyon Lake and Austin. The crimes came to law enforcement’s attention after the victim, at age 14, disclosed the abuse to her sister-in-law, and the Comal County Sheriff’s Office was notified. Assistant criminal district attorneys Pierce Richardson and Allison Barber tried the case, with support from District Attorney Investigator Greg Bowers and Victim Assistance Coordinator Melissa White.
“For too long, this predator exploited trust within families to abuse multiple children across years and locations,” District Attorney Greg Willis wrote, according to the Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office…