Two Guards Arrested in Two Weeks at Texas Jail
Two jailers were arrested in two weeks at Texas’ Hays County Jail, beginning on April 25, 2025, when guard John Duran, 45, was accused of sending a detainee to shower and watching her bathe on surveillance video. An investigation was launched when the unnamed detainee reported the incident earlier in the month. Investigators substantiated the claim and also determined that Duran lied on his job application before he was hired in July 2022; he claimed that he had never been the subject of an internal investigation, but the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) twice investigated him during his tenure there—once for trading contraband, for which he received a six-month probation in 2010, and when he resigned in 2014, he was again under investigation for forcing an unnamed prisoner to cut his hair, violating TDCJ policy. He was charged with felony record-tampering and misdemeanor official oppression.
Fellow jailer George Jearld Snell, 35, was also fired and arrested on May 7, 2025, on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child involving sexual contact. He had been on leave since an investigation was opened after the August 2024 incident. He had worked at the jail since November 2022.
Sources: Austin American-Statesman, KXAN
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