A Texas man accused of trading teens cash and gold in exchange for sex acts was found dead Sunday.
72-year-old Howard Taylor Collier III appeared to have died of natural causes at his home in Abilene, Texas — Jolly Rogers Road.
He was initially arrested in December of 2017 for the sex crimes. Then, he was arrested again days later for ‘continuous trafficking of persons.’
At the time of his death, he was free on a $250,000 bond.
According to KTXS, a search warrant executed at Collier’s home in July 2018 [revealed] Collier ‘gave 254 pounds of gold, worth an estimated $5 million, to the uncle of two of his female victims.’
According to court documents:
A relative of one of the alleged victims told police in November that the 16-year-old had mentioned receiving money from Collier. The relative said Collier allowed teens, ranging from 13 to 19 years old, to enter his home in the 500 block of Jolly Rogers Road in north Abilene and “get money for performing sexual acts on each other or him.”
She said she decided to report Collier after she met him and “he creeped her out.”
She said she “heard of juveniles purchasing new and high-dollar vehicles with money” received from Collier. The 16-year-old victim, she said, had been seen with “wads of cash.”
At first, the 16-year-old told her she was getting paid to do work around Collier’s house. Later, when pressed, the relative said the 16-year-old told her that she and an 18-year-old friend had sex while Collier watched. He also performed a sex act on her and paid them $800, her relative said.
In addition, the 16-year-old told the relative that one of her friends attempted to use their phones to try and blackmail Collier “by texting him on his phone and told him that if he didn’t pay them money, they would tell the cops how he raped them.”
When speaking with an investigator, the 16-year-old admitted that she did have oral sex with her 18-year-old friend while Collier watched and that he paid her money for “the act.”
When interviewed, Collier described a “one-time act” of the two performing oral sex on each other as he watched and that he did perform oral sex on the 16-year-old girl. He said he paid them $1,000.
