Criminal charges against a former Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constable accused of using his position of authority to sexually assault two women have been officially dismissed, according to Texas court documents. The legal decision marks a significant turn in a high-profile case that initially brought intense public scrutiny to the local law enforcement agency.
The defendant, Ray Thompson, had previously faced two separate counts of sexual assault after formal charges were lodged against him in 2024. The underlying allegations spanned multiple years, stemming from separate incidents that prosecutors alleged took place during the autumn of 2022 and late summer of 2023 in the greater Houston area.
Official court filings indicate that the Harris County District Attorney's Office formally moved to dismiss the criminal cases against Thompson on April 1, 2025. In their filing, prosecutors cited an inability to meet the high standard of proof required in criminal proceedings, acknowledging that they could not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on the currently available evidence.
Despite the dismissal, state prosecutors emphasized that the legal proceedings against the former deputy are not irrevocably terminated. The district attorney's office explicitly noted in official records that the case remains eligible to be refiled at a later date should supplemental evidence or additional investigative findings come to light.
The serious accusations against Thompson detailed alarming encounters where he was alleged to have leveraged his role and influence to intimidate and compromise his victims. At the time the charges were brought forward, community members and accountability advocates voiced deep concern regarding the alleged abuse of police authority.
One of the primary allegations against Thompson stemmed from an encounter in October 2022 while he was working an approved secondary security job at the Galleria, a prominent shopping and commercial center in Houston. Investigators stated that Thompson engaged an 18-year-old woman at the property before allegedly enticing her into a nearby hotel room, where he was accused of providing her with alcoholic beverages prior to the alleged assault.
The second felony charge was tied to a separate event in September 2023. According to prosecutorial statements, that incident involved a mother who was walking her son to a local school. Thompson was accused of intercepting the woman and subsequently luring her into a hotel room under circumstances that led to criminal charges being filed the following year.
Following the initial public disclosure of the criminal charges, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman confirmed that at least one of the alleged sexual assaults occurred while Thompson was an active, employed member of the Precinct 4 Constable's Office.
Constable Herman outlined the administrative actions taken by agency leadership once the allegations came to their attention. Department administrators immediately stripped Thompson of his field authority, taking him off active patrol duty and reassigning him to an internal dispatch desk to remove him from public-facing operations.
The Precinct 4 Constable's Office simultaneously initiated an internal affairs inquiry to investigate the deputy's conduct and evaluate departmental violations. However, according to Herman, Thompson refused to cooperate with internal investigators during the administrative inquiry and chose to resign his position from the constable's office shortly thereafter.
The transition from active-duty law enforcement to facing multiple felony sexual assault charges highlighted the critical oversight mechanisms applied to peace officers in Harris County. Legal analysts note that cases involving off-duty conduct or secondary employment often present complex jurisdictional and administrative dynamics for law enforcement leadership.
The ultimate dismissal of the charges illustrates the rigorous evidentiary threshold required in criminal jurisprudence. To sustain a conviction, prosecutors must satisfy the reasonable doubt standard, a bar that requires conclusive, compelling proof that withstands intense judicial scrutiny, particularly in complex sexual assault litigation where physical evidence or witness testimony may face procedural hurdles.
The prosecutorial reservation allowing for potential refiling ensures that the Harris County District Attorney's Office retains the discretion to revive the indictment. If newly uncovered corroborating evidence, digital records, or additional testimony become available, prosecutors maintain the statutory authority to bring the charges back before a grand jury.
For now, the formal dismissal provides a legal reprieve for Thompson, while leaving open questions regarding the events that initially prompted internal affairs intervention, department-level disciplinary reassignment, and formal felony indictments against the former law enforcement officer.
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