West Holmes, 52, Leah Vernon, 37, Eric Adams, 30, and Laquella Berry, 26, were recently booked into the Anderson County Jail in Palestine, Anderson County, Texas, United States. They are all residents of the city.
Aside from Palestine, Holmes has lived in other parts of Texas including Frankston, Houston, Lakehills and Lovelady. He is a registered sex offender with a history of sex crimes against children.
Palestine is part of the fifth district of Texas. Since January 3, 2019, the district has been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Lance Gooden, 42, who was born in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA.
Leah Vernon, Eric Adams, Laquella Berry
On September 12, 2025, a room at a motel on East Palestine Avenue in Palestine was registered to Adams. At around 11:16 a.m. on September 26, 2025, Palestine Police Department officers were called to the motel for a report of abandoned children.
The officers found Berry’s children ages 6, 4, 20 months and 7 months at the motel and open alcohol containers were left in reach of the children. There were no adults at the motel.
Shortly after officers had arrived, Berry returned to the room with Vernon. The officers arrested Vernon, Adams and Berry and booked them into the Anderson County Jail.
Bond for Vernon, Adams and Berry has been set at $200,000. They were each charged with four counts of abandoning or endangering a child intentionally.
West Holmes
At around 5:10 p.m. on October 18, 2025, a corporal with the Palestine Police Department was sent to 1010 Sugar Lane in Palestine about an online solicitation of a minor allegation. At the location, the corporal talked to a representative from a civilian group that investigates suspected online child predators.
According to the representative, the group was at the location with a man who had been communicating online with someone he believed to be a girl aged 13. Officers identified the man as Holmes.
Holmes admitted to sending sexually explicit messages during the online communication. He was arrested, booked into the Anderson County Jail and charged with online solicitation of a minor, which is a second-degree felony.
CONAN Daily 