A 56-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison after admitting to sexually abusing a family member about eight years ago.
Tony Skipper, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his July 21, 2025, arrest, appeared in the140th District Court with his attorney, Audie Reese, and pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.
As part of his plea deal with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office, Skipper entered guilty pleas to the charges in exchange for the two-decade sentence.
He was also charged with a count of indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of two
to 20 years in prison.
That count was dismissed as part of his plea deal.
He will have to serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
He will also have to register as a sex offender for life.
Investigating reported child abuse in Lubbock
Skipper's conviction stems from December 2024 Lubbock police investigation that after the girl, who lived out of town, made an outcry that Skipper, a family member sexually abused her in 2018.
The girl, who was younger than 14 years old at the time of the abuse, told a forensic interviewer that Skipper sexually abused her and would "would regularly touch their butts and make them feel uncomfortable," according to an arrest affidavit.
She said Skipper also came in to her room at night to "stare" at her and smell her dirty laundry, the affidavit states.
A Lubbock Couty grand jury returned an indictment against Skipper on July 15, 2025 and he was arrested about a week later.
Gabriel Monte is the criminal justice reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at gmonte@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock man gets 20 years for sexually assaulting young family member
