Robber released on PR, later charged with rape

Slow indictment prompted release
- U.S. Marshals made the arrest 

Waco – No matter how you describe the offenses of a man accused of aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault, both are crimes against a person, and both involve violence against a woman.

On Oct. 3, an unnamed female left her Bellmead area business with a bank sack. Booker Vantwon Sterling, 24, spotted the cash she was carrying to deposit in a downtown Waco bank.

He and another man, who were driving a Chevrolet Caprice later reported stolen, in broad daylight rammed her Suburban SUV from the rear at the downtown corner of 4^th and Franklin.

She alighted to check the damage, and Mr. Sterling forced her back into her vehicle at gunpoint. He ordered her to drive away into East Waco.

Officers later found a Halloween mask he was wearing in the victim's vehicle, which he abandoned after a quick thinking eye witness phoned police to report the carjacking. His victim escaped unhurt.

When the Grand Jury indicted Mr. Sterling on Jan. 6, 2012, three days after the 90 days allowed to return an indictment under Texas court rules had expired, Criminal District Judge Ralph Strother ordered his release on Personal Recognizance on Jan. 20.

Under the conditions of this bond, he was required only to sign a chattel agreement to forfeit assets or property worth $50,000 after the original $95,000 bond had first been raised to $100,000, then lowered to half that amount. The transaction required no outlay of cash.

Mr. Sterling was free to go his own way in return for his promise to appear in court to answer the charge of aggravated robbery of a woman whom he and a fellow assailant attacked with a stolen motor vehicle.

His freedom did not last long.

On April 19, Deputy U.S. Marshal Anton Slavich arrested Mr. Sterling for aggravated sexual assault. Criminal District Judge Matt Johnson set his bond at $30,000.

Officer Slavich is  member of the U.S. Marshal's Service Fugitive Warrants Division, though a booking card filled out at the County Jail, identifies Officer Slavich as a Waco Police Department officer. Another similar document identifies Officer Slavich as a Department of Public Safety employee.

Both agencies when contacted said they have no record of an Officer Slavich, Badge 3176. According to an unnamed source from the Marshal's Service, all of the Deputy Marshals' badges begin with the digits 31. (click here for the minority report)