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Man sentenced to 12 years in prison for spitting in officer's face

Posted at 12:09 PM, Jan 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-07 15:09:55-05

A Harker Heights man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for spitting in a police officer's face, according to Bell County court officials. The incident happened in early September of 2018. 

Ronnie Deel, 55, was charged with harrassment of a public servant and failure to provide indentification on Sept. 9.

Officers were dispatched to Spec's Liquor located in the 2500 block of East Central Texas Expressway in response to a disturbance call. Deel identified himself as "James Ward" and denied harassing customers at the store. 

Deel also told officers a false birthday, according to the arrest affidavit. He finally admitted that he was trying to see if someone at Spec's would buy something from him. 

Police said he continued to lie about his age, and officers told him he was under arrest for failing to ID, and Deel began cursing at the officers. He threatened officers and their families and continued to threaten the officers while in the patrol car. While officers were driving away from the scene, Deel leaned up to an open area in the patrol car and spit on one officer's face. 

The arrest affidavit said the officers pulled over and waited for another patrol vehicle to transport Deel. The officer said he could feel the spit on his cheek.

Officers were finally able to identify Deel, and his criminal history revealed multiple violent felonies. He was also listed as being highly contagious because he has AIDS/HIV, the affidavit said. 

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