Accused Child Rapist Violates Bond For Second Time; Victim's Father Irate
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GRAPEVINE (CBSDFW.COM) - An accused child rapist and former youth volleyball coach is back in jail after violating his bond conditions for a second time.
Damian Merrick, 48, was arrested after investigators said his GPS tracking device turned off for two hours.
Merrick faces child sexual assault charges after police said he forced sex upon a 16-year-old he coached through the Grapevine Volleyball Club.
"How many of those do you allow before you know, you put your foot down," said the father of one of the victims.
To protect his daughter, the father quoted in this story does not want his name used.
"She's afraid she's going to run into him somewhere. She's scared of him obviously," said the victim's father.
Merrick was arrested after a judge said he forgot to charge the batteries on his GPS device. Merrick spent more than two hours unaccounted for until police arrived at his home.
"Who knows where he was during that time he was accounted for?" questioned the victim's father.
According to the judge overseeing Merrick's case, he will get another chance.
The coordinator for Judge Mollee Westfall said Merrick's bond will be doubled to $90,000 on Monday.
"How many chances is he going to get? And what's going to happen when his monitoring is off and something horrible happens and then there's another victim? At that point it too late," said the victim's father.
If he comes up with the money, Merrick could be out of jail by Tuesday morning.
He has a court date scheduled for December.
Requests to interview Merrick were not granted.
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