A grand jury on Thursday indicted the 18-year-old son of a Denton County district judge on a charge of sexual assault and a second charge of indecency with a child.

Robert Wyatt Evans of Sanger is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy. Texas law states that if a teen who is at least three years older than a child under the age of 17 has a consensual sexual relationship with the younger teen, the older teen can be charged with sexual assault. Evans’ attorney, Rick Hagen, has said that his client is three years and 12 days older than the other boy.

Hagen did not return a telephone message asking for comment Friday afternoon.

Evans is the son of 367th Judicial District Court Judge Lee Gabriel and Hal Evans. She was appointed by the governor to the bench in September 1989 and has never drawn an opponent. She was a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office before taking the bench.

She could not be reached for comment.

Robert Evans was a Sanger High School student at the time the allegations came to light in late 2007. School records provided earlier by Hagen show he was an all-state band member and ranked eighth academically in a class of 131.

He withdrew from the Sanger school and enrolled in a private school after the case began.

The younger boy’s parents contacted the Texas Rangers when they found out about the relationship, and a Ranger based in Collin County who is not associated with Denton County handled the case.

When the Ranger brought the case to District Attorney Paul Johnson, Johnson asked to be recused, or released from prosecuting the case, because of the relationship between the district attorney’s office and the courts.

First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck said Friday that the district attorney’s office would not be involved in prosecuting the case.

“When the law enforcement agency brought this case to be filed, the Denton County Criminal District Attorney’s Office immediately filed a motion requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor. That motion was granted, and that appointment will remain for the duration of the case,” Beck said.

Administrative Judge Bruce McFarling, whose job would have been to find a special prosecutor for the case, also recused himself. So a regional administrative judge appointed Wichita Falls attorney Ron Poole as special prosecutor.

Poole brought the case to the Denton County grand jury Thursday and records show indictments on both charges. Both charges are second-degree felonies and carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com.