SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales plans to challenge a motion to change Brad Simpson’s bond conditions.
Simpson, who is facing a family violence charge, among others, is asking a Bexar County court to amend bond conditions so he can have contact with his children, his attorney said.
“We intend on strenuously opposing this motion to modify bond conditions,” Gonzales said in an email to KSAT Thursday afternoon.
The district attorney’s office declined to comment further because the case is pending.
Simpson’s attorney, Stephen Gilmore, penned the request in a motion submitted to Bexar County Court No. 7 on Monday. KSAT acquired Gilmore’s letter on Wednesday afternoon.
As a condition of Simpson’s pretrial release, the court said that he could not have any contact with his four children.
In the motion, Gilmore argues that the court should allow Simpson, 53, to be in contact with his children because none of his children are involved in any of his current charges and Simpson is not considered a flight risk.
Instead, Gilmore suggested to the court that its no-contact order be changed to allow Simpson to engage in “no harmful or injurious contact.”
The court received Gilmore’s motion on Tuesday morning, according to the letter obtained by KSAT.
Hours after the court received Gilmore’s motion on Tuesday, Simpson was charged with two additional counts.
According to Bexar County Jail records, Simpson is facing two new charges: a tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair charge and a prohibited weapon-related charge.
Simpson’s two new charges were filed in connection with James Valle Cotter, 65, a longtime Simpson business associate.
Cotter, who is facing the same tampering and weapon-related charges as Simpson, was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday, jail records show.
According to an arrest affidavit, the Texas Rangers received consent from Cotter to look through his communication with Simpson on his cellphone.
On Oct. 8, the affidavit said Brad Simpson texted Cotter, saying, “If you’re in Bandera, can you haul a** and meet me at your house? I don’t have much time.”
Simpson messaged Cotter again, adding, “OK, make sure to leave all that s*** in the pump house, especially that gun,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also includes a text from Simpson, saying, “Sorry for the urgency but you’re all I got especially now...social media is destroying me.”
When Olmos Park police obtained a search warrant for Cotter’s residence on Monday, authorities found an AK-47 manufactured in China behind a TV mounted inside of his bedroom, the affidavit stated.
A video obtained of a walk-in safe room full of guns inside Brad Simpson’s house showed what appeared to be the same weapon.
Through further investigation, authorities confirmed that the gun was an AK-47 that could switch between full and semi-automatic, the affidavit said.
In all, Simpson is facing four charges: unlawful restraint, family violence, tampering/fabricating physical evidence and prohibited weapon-related charges. Simpson’s bonds total $3 million, according to jail records.
Kendall County deputies arrested Brad Simpson on unlawful restraint and family violence charges on Oct. 9, and he was transferred into Bexar County custody on Oct. 10.
At this time, Simpson has not been charged in the disappearance of his wife, Suzanne Clark Simpson.
Suzanne Simpson was reported missing on Oct. 6.
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