Zachary Kent Mills (Harris County Constable’s Office)
A 22-year-old man in Texas accused of kidnapping a woman he met on the Bumble dating app and holding her against her will for nearly a week while he allegedly beat and sexually assaulted her will not be going to prison thanks to a plea deal reached with prosecutors.
Harris County Criminal Court Judge Genesis Draper earlier this month sentenced Zachary Kent Mills to two years of probation and 80 hours of community service for the 2022 incident, court records obtained by Law&Crime show. As part of the agreement, the judge also ordered Mills to abstain from using any drugs or alcohol, have no contact with the victim, and make a $50 donation to a women’s shelter.
Mills, who was originally charged with one count of felony aggravated kidnapping, reached a deal with prosecutors in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in which he agreed to plead guilty to a downgraded charge of misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury. Mills also received a deferred adjudication of guilt, which could not only keep him out of prison but also without a criminal record.
Mills’ deferred adjudication is “a special form of judge-ordered community supervision (commonly known as ‘probation’) that permits a defendant to accept responsibility for a crime without an actual conviction being placed on the record,” according to the Texas Senate Jurisprudence Committee. This means that if Mills successfully completes his two years of probation, the charge against him will be dismissed.
Following his initial arrest, Mills’ attorney said his client vehemently denied the allegations levied against him and insinuated that there was more to the story than what the victim relayed to authorities.
“We have a very strong stance that a lot of these did not occur,” defense attorney Chris Denuna told Houston ABC affiliate KTRK-TV. “I think that will show that there’s more to it in their relationship. I think it will show that there’s a history between them. That they’ve spent numerous occasions together amongst other people, whether it’s friends, family that can vouch for their relationship from what they’ve seen as a third-party witness, that can vouch for their characters.”
As previously reported by Law&Crime, deputies with the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 4 on Dec. 29 responded to an emergency call regarding a female patient who was the victim of an alleged assault at the Houston Methodist Spring Emergency Care Center.
The victim, identified in court documents as “J.W.,” told investigators that she had met a man — later identified as Mills — on Bumble, and the two “started a romantic relationship,” the document states. It was not immediately clear from the document when the victim and Mills met in person for the first time.
J.W. told authorities that she agreed to go to Mills’ apartment located in the 8000 block of Augusta Pines on Christmas Eve and that “immediately upon entering” Mills’ apartment he “attempted to start to have sexual intercourse” with her.
“When [J.W.] denied the defendant’s sexual advances, he immediately began to physically assault her and would not let her leave the residence,” the affidavit states. “[J.W.] advised when he assaulted her, he would strike her using closed fist. Defendant would also bit her on the neck and face. [J.W.] stated when the defendant’s hands got tired from hitting her, he would grab a screwdriver and would strike her with the handle of the screwdriver causing serious bodily injury.”
The victim alleged that she made several attempts to leave Mills’ home, but each time she did, Mills allegedly stopped her and assaulted her again. She further claimed that throughout the duration of the time she was held against her will, Mills refused to provide her with any food or water.
J.W. told detectives that she was finally able to get out of the house when Mills left the residence to go to his father’s home.
“At that point [J.W.] gathered up her clothes and ran out the door and contacted the first people who she came in contact with and advised them of what had occurred,” according to the affidavit.
She was then able to positively identify Mills as her alleged attacker based on his Texas driver’s license photograph. She was transported to the emergency care center where medical personnel said she had sustained “severe bruising to both eyes, bite marks and cuts to both her throat and nose, and severe bruising to majority of her body.”
Mills was taken into custody the following day and booked into the Harris County Jail. He was later released after posting $50,000 bond.
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