Fannin County, Texas -- Jonathan Lee Thomas, 50, of Savoy, was sentenced to 25 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division in a guilty plea to the offenses of Possession of Child Pornography, and Failure to Maintain a Duty to Register as a Sex Offender on July 15, 2026.
Judge Christina Tillett of the 336th District Court, presided over the plea. On April 12th , 2025 Savoy Police responded to a call from a concerned parent regarding a Facebook message sent to her child. Officers reviewed the message and contacted the Fannin County Sheriff’s office after learning the person who sent the message, Jonathan Lee Thomas, was a registered sex offender.
The Fannin County Sheriff’s Office began their investigation and discovered that the defendant was required to report within 7 days of any changes to both his employment and the creating of a social media account, and he had failed to do so. During the investigation into the failure to register, the Sheriff’s office and Savoy Police Department requested the Texas Rangers to assist with the investigation into the messages sent to the minor from the defendant.
The Rangers interviewed the Thomas, who admitted that he had received photos he believed to be child porn and that the images would be on his personal device. Rangers seized the phone and obtained a search warrant for its content. The download did reveal images of child porn and Thomas was subsequently charged with possession of child porn in a subsequent indictment.
The Fannin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office received the cases from law enforcement and upon further investigation uncovered that the defendant had been previously convicted of a prior failure to maintain a duty to register as a sex offender, along with other felony offenses, which demonstrated his lack of control and empathy toward other human beings.
“This defendant was previously convicted of being indecent with a child and served prison time for that offense. After being in prison, he again was convicted for failing to maintain his sex offender registration requirements. The Defendant’s behavior dictates that he should be held in prison for a long period of time because he is a danger to the young people in our community,” said Assistant Criminal District Attorney Vanessa Vice.
First Assistant District Attorney Nathan Young added that, “Repeat offenders, particularly those of violent crime and cases where children or the elderly are at put in the crosshairs, deserve lengthy sentences that remove them as a threat to us. Two and a half decades in this case achieves that goal.”
