PAGE 6A
Laredo Morning Times
State
Declared dead radio
executive charged
with abandonment
HOUSTON (AP) - A radio station executive was in jail
Saturday, accused of deserting
his family 15 years ago and starting over in Texas, where he
became a prominent member of
several civic organizations.
Tim Kingsbury, general manager of KGBC-AM, was arrested
Friday on a fugitive warrant from
Ohio. As Patrick H. Welsh, he
deserted his family 15 years ago
and then assumed the identity of
Tim Kingsbury.
A grand jury indicted him on
Thursday on eight counts of
felony nonsupport-abandonment
and two counts of fraud. He also
faces two counts of misdemeanor nonsupport.
He remained jailed Saturday in
the Galveston County Jail on a
$500,000 bond and is expected
to be extradited to Ohio this
week.
Welsh disappeared from his
home on Jan. 20, 1983, documents from the Fairfield County,
Ohio Probate court show. His
wife, Elizabeth Welsh, had him
declared legally dead and collected the life insurance money.
Kingsbury was first arrested in
1996 when investigators from
the Galveston County district
attorney’s office, on an anonymous tip, searched his office at
the Galveston radio station and
seized a fake Wisconsin birth
certificate. Investigators also
took blank and partially completed Social Security cards and
press-on lettering sheets.
Kingsbury was charged with a
third-degree felony under the
name of Patrick Welsh and was
sentenced to four years’ probation, court records show.
As part of his probation he was
ordered to destroy all credit
cards, driver’s licenses and other
government identification that
listed him as Tim Kingsbury and
made to inform the Social
Security Administration of his
true identity. He satisfied his probation without incident, said
Michael Guarino, Galveston
County district attorney.
Elizabeth Welsh contacted
Kingsbury during the Christmas
holidays, said Vandy Anderson,
co-owner of KGBC and close
friend of Kingsbury’s. Mrs. Welsh
told Kingsbury that the Social
Security Administration wanted
the return of benefits given to his
sons, Anderson said, and about
two weeks ago Kingsbury made
arrangements with the Social
Security
office
and
the
Northwestern
Mutual
Life
Insurance Co. to make restitution
for the benefits.
Kingsbury’s new life began
Former parole
official acquitted
in sex case
AUSTIN (AP) -A former parole
official has been acquitted of
charges that he used threats to
force three female inmates at
Gatesville’s Murray Unit to perform sex acts.
David Taylor, 30, testified that
he had sexual contact with the
women, but insisted that it was
consensual and that he never
threatened them. He was found
innocent by a Coryell County
jury Friday.
He testified that several
inmates made sexual advances
toward him. “They initiated it,” he
said. “I’ve never threatened to
kill anyone.”
Taylor resigned from his duties,
which
included
screening
inmates when they came up for
parole and sending reports to the
parole board, after the allegations
surfaced in November 1996. He
faced up to 20 years in prison.
Felicia Durst, 37, the first woman
to come forward with allegations,
said she had been punished twice
- once for her crime and another
for speaking out.
“I can’t believe it,” said Mrs.
Durst. “I feel like because I was
an inmate, they didn’t believe me.
Because I’m an inmate, it’s OK?”
Mrs. Durst accused Taylor of
fondling her, then forcing her to
perform oral sex after making subtle threats toward her children.
The women also accused
Taylor of threatening to block
their parole, harm their families
or even to kill them if they did not
cooperate.
after he was convicted in 1980 of
stealing more than $20,000 from
Ohio State University, where he
worked as a fund-raiser. He was
ordered to pay back the money,
sentenced to 30 days in jail to be
served on weekends and placed
on three years’ probation.
Although Kingsbury served his jail
time, he left Ohio before paying
back the money, selling the family’s
car and spending the money on a
bus ticket, Anderson said.
“He did not finish paying and
when things got rough again, he left
- vanished,” Anderson said. “He
sold the car on the way to the bus
station, got on the bus and rode the
bus until the money ran out, which
happened to be Galveston.
“He got off the bus and ended
up at Catholic Charities, which
provided him with food and lodging to survive. He gradually started building a life here in
Galveston.”
For three years, Kingsbury was
director of public relations and
marketing for the Galveston
Historical Foundation. In 1986, he
was named executive director of
the Galveston Railroad Museum.
In February 1995, Kingsbury was
named manager of KGBC.
Kingsbury also worked with the
Rotary Club, United Way, Boy
Scouts
and
Chamber
of
Commerce. His probation for the
theft was terminated in 1996
after he made restitution, Ohio
court records show.
Anderson said he and other
friends of Welsh are confident
that he will get through this and
will return to continue his life in
Galveston.
“To us he’s just a good guy that
has a strange past,” Anderson said.
“He has a job. He’s got close friends
and associates. We love him.”
Sunday, February 1, 1998