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Axtel, Texas – In a follow-up interview prompted by reader unsubstantiated reader comments, Axtel gun range operator Cornel Marton admitted he was once registered as a sex offender.
He said for more than 10 years following a court appearance he didn’t really understand, he was not informed of being on probation.
And then, one day, “I got a letter from the Sheriff’s Office…” he said – as if he had shot an arrow into the air.
“They told me if I didn’t register as a sex offender, I was going to jail.”
After he had complied, he recalled, the entire episode seemed to have vanished into the air.
He thinks his case was adjudicated by 54th Criminal District Court Judge George Allen.
But he’s not really sure.
Looking at the notation in the Texas Sex Offenders Database maintained by the Department of Public Safety, the search is inconclusive.
His first and last names appear, but there is no date of birth, no photograph, and there is no case information supplied by the data entry.
It looks like this:
(click image for full size)
Unlike other offenders so registered, the entry for Marton does not give a date of birth, gender, or racial designation.
There is no case information or photograph included.
The only thing showing is his name – nothing more.
As he recalls, at the time of his run-in with the law, he had planned a trip to Romania to wed his present wife and mother of his children.
Fellow Romanians who had been living at his mother’s house objected, he declared.
“They were gypsies.”
He was facing accusations leveled by his mother’s house guests. When his attorney told him to accept a pea bargain, he did so without fully understanding the consequences
He is not clear on whether he entered a plea of guilty.
His answer to all such questions, “I just don’t know.”
So mote it be.
- The Legendary