Kevin Abeyta, 54, formerly of Austin, was convicted and sentenced this week by a jury of continuous sexual abuse of a child, six counts of possession of child pornography with intent to promote and 13 counts of possession of child pornography, according to a press release issued by Hays County Criminal District Attorney Kelly Higgins. Hays County District Judge Sherri Tibbe stacked the sentences handed down by the jury, and Abeyta must now serve 71 years in prison.
In February of 2021, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Abeyta, a former art teacher at Campbell Elementary School, after an outcry of child sexual abuse. The minor child who outcried was not a student. Cpl. Chase Crow and Sgt. Mike Andrews traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where Abeyta was then living and teaching as an elementary school art teacher. Several days after Abeyta was interviewed by law enforcement, he gave several hard drives to a friend who subsequently found child sexual abuse material on them. The friend notified authorities, and the hard drives were collected and investigated by Detective Nelson Wray.
More than a thousand media files were identified as child sexual abuse material, some including images and videos of the child victim. Abeyta had also been secretly filming at least one young child under her desk at school.
Assistant District Attorneys Katie Arnold and Elizabeth Schmidt prosecuted this case.
“We’d like to thank the investigators at Hays County Sheriff’s Office, the witnesses who testified in this case, Abeyta’s acquaintance for notifying the police about the incriminating evidence he found and the brave survivor who stood up to her offender,” Arnold said. “Without the bravery of each witness, this man might still be in a classroom putting young children at risk.”
Abeyta is not eligible for parole on the first count of continuous sexual abuse.
