The Ector County Sheriff’s Office arrested an Odessa man Monday who had a warrant issued for his arrest last year for allegedly violating his probation in a child sexual assault case.
Online Ector County District Court records detail in February 2019, when Deonta Starling was 19, he was accused of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 14.
He was placed on 10 years’ community supervision in August 2020 after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child. According to the plea agreement, his guilty plea will not be entered into the record unless he violates his probation.
Judge Denn Whalen issued a warrant for Starling in June 2021 after a prosecutor with the Ector County District Attorney’s Office and a probation officer alleged that Starling failed to notify his probation officer he’d moved or changed employment and failed to update his sex offender registration.
They also alleged Starling had “direct or indirect contact or communication or was in the presence” of his victim and had “direct or indirect contact or communication or was in the presence” of a child under the age of 17 without supervision of someone over the age of 21 and approved by his probation officer. It was also alleged he got within 1,000 feet of a premise where children commonly gather.
Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Howard asked Whalen to issue the warrant for Starling’s arrest and to adjudicate him guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
