The woman accused of grooming young girls to take part in a sex trafficking ring found herself in trouble with a judge Thursday morning.
A plea deadline hearing was held for Amanda Talbert in the 347th District Court.
During the hearing, the Texas Attorney General's Office prosecutor dropped a bombshell.
Helen Tschurr told Judge Missy Medary that on May 11, one of Talbert's victims contacted their office. She said she was at a local HEB store and saw Talbert there. The victim took a photo of Talbert's shopping basket, which contained beer, which is a violation of Talbert's pre-trial bond conditions.
The prosecutors presented the photos to Judge Medary and told the judge because there is a "no contact" order in this case, the victim filed a police report.
Judge Medary then addressed Talbert:
"There is a no-contact order and so what that means is it doesn’t matter if you’re somewhere first. If you see that individual who’s contained under my no-contact orders, you have to walk out. You’re in the middle of a meal at Whataburger, and one of those victims or alleged victims walk in, you have to walk out. If you’re in the middle of bowling, right, or whatever it is that you were doing, that individual walks in, it is your duty to walk out, you are the individual because you have the no-contact order. Do you understand? The second thing is there is no alcohol to my pre-trial. So, I can have them file a non-compliance right now, and we can have a non-compliance hearing. Right? And the state can ask that I revoke your bond. I just don’t wanna hear it anymore. I don’t want to. There’s no alcohol. Do you understand?
Talbert told the judge, she understood.
Soon after, Judge Medary learned that the three other alleged victims are not listed in the no-contact order. She immediately added them and told Talbert she couldn't stress enough how important it is to follow that order.
In the end, Talbert's defense attorney, Mark Gonzalez, asked for a continuance and said there was ample evidence that the Attorney General's Office was still organizing the case.
Judge Medary approved the continuance since there was more than 60,000 pages filed in this case. She ordered all discovery to be turned over in to the defense attorneys by June 9 in hopes that the case is taken to trial in October.
Since her co-defendant, Noraier George Manassian's case, goes to trial in September, she ordered that his attorneys turn over evidence in his case by May 27.
In May, Talbert, the owner of Talbert's Tavern, was charged with two counts of indecency with a child with sexual assault, and her bond was set at $150,000. Her arrest came after a woman came forward in October 2023, claiming Talbert paid her and an underage girl $700 to have sex with a then-63-year-old man back in 2007.
Watch Judge Missy Medary scold Amanda Talbert for violating her no-contact order during Thursday's pre-trial hearing:
See related series here:
KRIS 6 obtains arrest reports detailing sex trafficking allegations
- Annaville bar owner accused of running sex trafficking ring is back behind bars
- New evidence continues to come in for cases related to Amanda Talbert
- Two more victims come forward in the Amanda Talbert case
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