Ex-Central Texas mayor indicted for
continuous sexual abuse of a Child

VALLEY MILLS, TX  –  Former Valley Mills Mayor Rodney Nichols, 81, who shot himself earlier this year before officers arrived to serve an arrest warrant has been indicted for continuous sexual abuse of children.

The indictment, which the Bosque County Grand Jury handed up last Friday, alleges that from Nov. 15, 2018 through Jan. 6, 2019 Nichols had repeated sexual contact with a child younger than 14 and had sexual contact once with a second child.

The indictment lists seven instances in which Nichols had sexual contact with the first child and one in which Nichols had sexual contact with the second child.

The offense is a first-degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.

Nichols shot himself in the abdomen in June at his home in Valley Mills while family members present at the house, sources with direct knowledge of the incident said.

Nichols was taken to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco and was in the hospital when Valley Mills police officers arrived at the residence in an attempt to serve the arrest warrant, but his wife was home and collapsed and died of a heart attack, the sources said.

He was taken into custody after he was released from the hospital, but was released after posting a $50,000 bond.

Nichols was charged in a child molestation case in 2005, but a Bosque County grand jury declined to indict him.

He was serving on the Valley Mills City Council at the time, but stepped down, citing personal reasons.

He was later reappointed to the council and served as mayor.