A former police officer was found guilty by a Wise County jury Friday of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and given life without parole by the court.
Robert Doyle Gillock, 37, of Poolville was found guilty of the first degree felony offense after about an hour of deliberation by the jury. Following a brief punishment phase of the trial, Gillock was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by 271st District Judge Brock Smith. The offense carried a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
ROBERT DOYLE GILLOCK
Public records show Gillock worked as an officer at Rhome Police Department from September of 2013 to October of 2014. Gillock also worked as an officer in Nocona, Reno and Jefferson between 2010 and 2020, according to public records.
The victim in the case was a male family member under the age of 14, and the jury found Gillock sexually abused the boy at least twice over a period of 30 days or more from late 2009 to early 2011.
The victim, who is not being identified due to being an underage victim of sexual abuse, testified that he was 11 when Gillock began fondling his genitals. The abuse progressed to include watching pornography together and more extensive sexual activity.
He testified that Gillock would sometimes offer to buy him video games to perform the sexual activity requested.
Two other witnesses, both male family members of Gillock’s, also testified about similar child sexual abuse they endured from the defendant when they were younger. One testified that Gillock would offer to buy him mint-flavored snuff to perform a sex act on him. The other said Gillock claimed to have photos of the two engaged in sex acts and he would show them to people if he ever told anyone about the abuse.
Social media messages were also shown to the jury between Gillock and a then-17-year-old boy who had requested law enforcement patches for his collection due to his interest in becoming a law enforcement officer. Evidence was shown that Gillock and the teen began messaging back and forth, and Gillock used a woman’s photo, including nude photos of the woman, to convince the teen to send him nude photos in return.
The abuse came to the attention of law enforcement from some of Gillock’s family members after he expressed interest in becoming a guardian to a 14-year-old foster child who he met while responding to a call in his law enforcement capacity, according to testimony.
“I didn’t want to see something happen to another minor,” one of the victims testified about why he came forward to talk about the abuse in 2019.
In his closing argument in the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutor Jay Lapham said the seriousness of the crime made a life sentence the appropriate punishment.
“(Gillock’s) conduct is reprehensible,” Lapham said. “I take no joy in requesting a life sentence. As a law enforcement officer, he took an oath to protect all of the community, especially those who are younger, the most vulnerable. He violated that oath. The defendant should never be in our community again. He’s forfeited that right.”
Gillock’s attorney, Paul Belew, argued that the state had not met their burden of proof in the case and pointed to family members who mentioned an extortion attempt of $30,000 was made against Gillock’s mom, although details were not discussed during testimony.
“Do we want to protect our community? Of course. But before we put a man in prison, we must make sure the state has proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt. There’s an alternate theory in this case, and I ask you find this man not guilty,” Belew told the jury during closing arguments.
During the punishment phase of the trial, Gillock’s uncle testified that he had not seen the type of behavior from his nephew that was brought out during the trial.
“He’s always been kind and willing to learn new things,” Tom Fisher said. “I’ve never known this type of behavior from him. I think he got lost somewhere along the way.”
Gillock was indicted on the charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 in November of 2022. Friday’s sentencing came at the end of a five-day trial in 271st District Court.
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