5-year-old sexually assaulted by manager of group home

AUSTIN, Texas - The manager of a group home in North Austin has been arrested and charged after a five-year-old girl who was living in the home had made an outcry that she was sexually assaulted. 

According to police, the mother of the victim called and notified them about the accusations on Thursday, February 20. The victim and her mother lived with the suspect and a number of other people in a group home on Leisure Drive in North Austin. 

During the course of their investigation, officers learned that the five-year-old victim initially told another mother living in the house about the abuse. The other mother was interviewed by detectives with APD, she said she had been concerned about the manager of the group home and asked the girls in the house if anybody had ever touched them inappropriately. 

The five-year-old told her that the suspect had touched her "cookie" and her butt. 

The other mother told her husband, who told the victim's mother. 

The victim was brought to Dell Children's Hospital for a sexual assault exam by police officers. During her interview, the five-year-old victim used an anatomical doll to show that the suspect had touched her anus and vagina. 

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During the investigation, officers also spoke with the manager of the group home who was identified as 50-year-old Michael Paul Tucker. Tucker told police officers that he had been alone with the victim, while she was naked, on four or five different occasions. Tucker also told police officers that his bare penis has been in contact with the victim's clothed buttocks. 

Michael Paul Tucker was arrested and charged with super aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony.