RANDALL COUNTY, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – According to an announcement from the Randall County District Attorney’s Office, a man convicted in 2015 of three counts of Sexual Assault of a Child will be committed to the Texas Civil Commitment Center instead of being released after the end of his sentence at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The DA’s office said that Kameron Dedan Pearson was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 15 years in the TDCJ “on each count to run concurrent with each other.” This followed Pearson also being sentenced to 18 years in TDCJ after he was convicted in McLennan County in 2014 of Possession of Child Pornography.

While Pearson has remained in prison since the convictions, the DA’s office said that he was scheduled to be eligible for parole. The DA’s office cited the 1999 Texas Sexually Violent Predator Act that allows the Special Prosecution Unit of the TDCJ in conjunction with the original prosecuting agency to file a civil lawsuit to ask the court to civilly commit a person proven to be a “repeat sexually violent offender” that is likely to engage in a sexually violent act due to a “behavioral abnormality.” If proven beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the DA’s office, then a defendant can be committed instead of being released at the end of their TDCJ sentence.

The DA’s office detailed that after a two-day trial that included an assessment from a forensic psychologist, a jury ruled in favor of the Special Prosecution Unit, and Judge Titiana Frausto then ordered that Pearson be committed to the Texas Civil Commitment Center when he is released from his sentence at TDCJ.

“Although, civil commitment is only possible in a small number of cases,” said the DA’s office, “the Randall County District Attorney is thankful for the assistance of the Special Prosecution Unit and to the judge and jury for protecting the community with this verdict.”