A 16-year veteran with the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office has been arrested and charged with the felony offense of continuing sexual abuse of a child.
Lieutenant Eddie Matthews, 45, was arrested by Texas Ranger Brent Barina at 8:45 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 after an investigation was initiated by the family of the alleged victim.
The Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, the Bastrop County District Attorney’s Office and the Children’s Advocacy Center conducted the investigation into the allegations against Matthews. Based upon the findings of this investigation, Ranger Barina was able to secure an arrest warrant from 423rd District Judge Christopher Duggan for the arrest of Matthews. Matthews was subsequently arrested without incident and booked into the Bastrop County Jail with a $100,000 bond.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Sheriff Terry Pickering admitted that Matthews had been arrested previously while in the department’s employ, but said Matthews has received numerous commendations and promotions while employed with the department.

District Attorney Bryan Goertz said Matthews has no criminal history and all records associated with his arrest(s) have been expunged and are no longer available.
The current charge against Matthews is a first-degree felony, punishable from 25 to 99 years or life in prison.  The offense involves repeated (two or more) acts of sexual abuse against a child under the age of 14 over a period of at least 30 days. The charges against Matthews allege that he committed more than ten acts of indecency with a child by contact and more than 10 acts of aggravated sexual assault of a child over the past year.  His victim was eight years old when the assaults allegedly began.
“The investigation is continuing,” Pickering said. “The child is with her family.”
Matthews was placed on administrative leave with pay and his badge and duty weapons were surrendered to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the complaint filed by Ranger Barino, Matthews denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.