Trackdown Update: Man charged with sexual assault of minors taken into custody
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas - White Settlement police said the man who was featured on Trackdown earlier this week, who is charged with sexual assault of minors, is now behind bars.
Steven Skalij faces two felony warrants for sexual assault of a child.
Police said Skalij was arrested back in October, but his $500,000 bond was lowered to $100,000. He made that bond, but police found there were additional victims.
Trackdown: Help find Steven Skalij, charged with sexual assault of minors
In this week’s Trackdown, White Settlement police are looking for Steven Skalij, who is charged with sexual assault of minors.
Skalij had agreed to turn himself in, but he never showed up, police said.
White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook was on Trackdown to ask for the public's help to find Skalij.
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Skalij at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
His initial bond was set at $1.5 million on two charges of sexual assault of a child, and it’s since been reduced to $200,000 on those two charges.
The move surprised the judge in Tarrant County who issued the initial bond.
"On the second ones, yes. It surprised me. I would have thought with the coverage of the first one, that wouldn’t have happened a second time, but yes, it surprised me," Tarrant County Judge Christopher Gregory said.
The arrest warrant states Skalij sexually assaulted multiple young girls at a home in White Settlement.
Parents of one of the girls reportedly found a graphic video of Skalij and the girl on her cellphone and contacted police.
"Besides our elderly, these are our most vulnerable people in our city and in our nation. We need to be doing a better job at protecting them the best we can," Gregory said.
This is why Gregory set the initial bond higher.
"That was what warranted increasing it a little bit, in reference to making sure that he wasn’t harming any of the victims again or the public at large," he explained.
Police said more charges with additional victims are possible.
"It doesn’t surprise me that the police departments are locating or possibly locating more," Gregory added.
Gregory plans to try to protect the public the best he can.
"My job, when I set these bonds, is to ultimately protect the victim and the community themselves, so that’s the reason. I set these the way that I did to try to ensure that that happened," he said.