DFW News App

WOOD COUNTY, Texas (KETK)- A Quitman man who was caught having indecent relationship with his stepdaughter has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday.

The 402nd Judicial District Court of Wood County Judge J. Brad McCampbell sentenced Michael Thomas Ferry to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to indecency with child sexual contact. Ferry will be forced to pay an $8,000 fine along with having to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

The Wood County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the case in May 2024 when investigator Clint Perkins received a report from a CPS investigator that a 9-year-old girl allegedly alerted her older brother that Ferry had sexually abused her.

The Wood County DA’s Office said Ferry would go to the girl’s bedroom and touch her private parts and instructed her not to tell anybody. The victim told her brother about her stepfather’s actions, and he told his father, who notified the authorities. The victim later participated in a forensic interview where she reported her experiences to the interviewer.

Ferry was arrested and charged with indecency with a child. The court granted a protective order which prevents Ferry from having any contact with the victim for the remainder of her life.

“I am very pleased with the outcome of this case. I met with the child’s victim in preparation for this case,” The Wood County DA’s Office said. “The child was devastated that this man she knew, loved and trusted would hurt her. My goal was to see justice done while at the same time keeping the child from being further traumatized by having to testify against a man she knew as her father.”