Former Nixon city manager indicted on 11 child sex crimes

NIXON, Texas – Former Nixon City Manager Manuel Zepeda was indicted on 11 child sex crimes in Gonzales County last Wednesday.

Zepeda, who also worked as a substitute teacher at Nixon-Smiley High School, was arrested in August 2016 and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

A grand jury in Gonzales County indicted him on three counts of sexual assault of a child, one count of sexual assault, four counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, two counts of indecency with a child by exposure and one count of attempt to commit sexual performance of child. All of the charges are felony offenses.

Nixon's city attorney, Eduardo Escobar, said that Zepeda's employment was officially terminated at a city council meeting on Monday.

Zepeda became city manager in 2014 and was placed on administrative leave when he was arrested in August 2016. Nixon's Interim City Manager, Harold Rice, took Zepeda's place.

In 2017, KSAT 12 talked to an alleged victim of Zepeda's who said that Zepeda attacked her when he was a substitute teacher in Nixon.