Sex offender in custody after assault

The Donley County Sheriff’s Department arrested Gabriel Callis of Lelia Lake after he assaulted a relative and threatened suicide last week.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said his office received a call at 7:28 p.m. last Thursday, December 9, from a residence in the 300 block of South Woodrow Street in Lelia Lake, reporting that Gabriel Callis was in the house with a gun and had been threatening suicide for two hours.

Callis had assaulted a female relative by shoving her down onto a brick fireplace and was making threats with a BB pistol, the sheriff said. The subject ran out of the backdoor of the house prior to officers arriving. A search was made for Callis, and he was arrested at 8:48 p.m. as he walked back into the house from hiding in some nearby weeds.

Blackburn said Callis was jailed for a violation of probation and bond was denied by District Judge Stuart Messer. He is facing additional charge of Family Violence – Aggravated Assault.

Callis, who is a professional gospel singer, was found guilty in 2007 of Indecency with a Child. The victim was 13 years old at the time.

The jury in 2007 also found Callis not guilty of a second count of the same charge.

Jurors heard testimony of two prior assaults the defendant had committed, but Callis
had no prior history of sex offenses.

Callis also threatened suicide wielding a knife the day of his sentencing in 2007, but was talked out of doing anything by local officers.

Callis is a registered sex offender and was originally sentenced to five years confinement probated to eight years probation and a fine of $10,000 probated to $5,000. He could face prison time for violating his probation.