Texas Firefighters Charged With Sexually Abusing 16‑Year‑Old Junior Volunteer
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Court documents in Grayson County, Texas, say at least three firefighters affiliated with the Howe Fire Department were arrested Thursday on multiple felony counts tied to the alleged sexual abuse of the same 16‑year‑old junior firefighter beginning in early 2022. The men — David Yosimar Perez‑Glass, Dalton Joe McCaslin and Joshua Todd Ryals — are charged with sexual assault of a child or indecency with a child involving sexual contact, with investigators alleging repeated assaults by Perez‑Glass over about a year, a separate sexual relationship between McCaslin and the teen, and inappropriate contact by Ryals at the Howe fire station. The complaint says Perez‑Glass allegedly began harassing the girl within her first month at the department, escalating to more than 20 alleged oral assaults and fewer than 10 incidents of intercourse, backed by threats to rape or kill her and harm her parents if she reported him, and that he lost interest once she turned 17. During the alleged abuse period, Perez‑Glass was reportedly named Firefighter of the Year and promoted to lieutenant, while Ryals later moved to the Melissa Fire Department, where he was honored as Paramedic of the Year just days before resigning and being arrested. Texas Rangers led the investigation and all three men were booked into the Grayson County Jail, a case already fueling local debate over how rigorously fire departments vet, supervise and segregate adult staff from minors in junior‑firefighter and cadet programs.