Almost 14 years after Desire Hamm pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and sexually abusing two Spring Banch teenage sisters, a Comal County jury Thursday “determined” she is a sexually violent predator.
Hamm, now 37, became the first female in Texas to receive this classification, Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp said in a statement Friday.
Under a 1999 Texas law, inmates with two or more convictions for sexually violent offenses who are nearing their release from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) are screened for the state’s Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Program.
The inmate must be shown to have a “behavioral abnormality that makes them likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence.”
Hamm, who is from California, was convicted by a county jury in 2011 on 13 counts of sexual performance by a child, aggravated kidnapping with the intent to violate and abuse sexually, and sexual abuse of a child.
Stacked on top of that prison sentence was 10 years probation to begin after her release from prison.
Hamm became eligible for civil commitment after the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole granted her an early release from prison. She served 15 years of a 20-year sentence.
She will transfer into the custody of the Texas Civil Commitment Office upon her release and receive long-term sex offender treatment and supervision for the indefinite future.
An expert who testified at the January trial said Hamm does not align with the usual female sex-offending pattern, describing her as more like a cult leader who controlled all aspects of her victims’ lives.
Other experts said Hamm has an extreme ability to lie and manipulate and, unlike most female sexual predators, would be likely to offend again.
During her second trial Hamm admitted to engaging in “role play games” with pen pals during her incarceration.
She also admitted to lying to the experts who evaluated her and to the state’s attorney during a deposition in August 2024.
“Even after 15 years in prison, she has continued to minimize her actions and involvement in the kidnapping and sexual assaults,” Tharp said. “She blamed her co-defendant and her victims while taking minimal responsibility.”
Tharp thanked attorneys with the Texas Special Prosecution Unit, which pursues civil commitment of sexually violent predators at the request of a district attorney.
“I am extremely grateful for the hard work and excellence by SVP Chief Erin Faeseler and her team, who took an important case for our county and used their expertise to protect Texas by handling this case for my office,” Tharp said.
“It has been a historic week for Texas and I am grateful for the jury’s verdict.”
466th District Court Judge Stephanie Bascon presided over the trial.
Details of the Crimes
In late 2009, Hamm began grooming the Smithson Valley High School students online through role-playing games that eventually became sexual in nature.
After spending hundreds of hours with the teenagers over the phone and computer, the San Diego woman brainwashed them into believing the game was reality, using “manipulation and violence” via webcams she constantly monitored.
Hamm also made up false sexual assault allegations against the victims’ parent.
Tharp said after mailing the girls secret cell phones, computers, and a variety of pills and gifts, Hamm “violated their innocence” while watching them on a webcam.
Within months, she coordinated their kidnapping with the help of another adult, Sarah Nadeau of California, who pled guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to 20 years in state prison.
Nadeau drove from San Diego to Comal County and brought the girls back to California, sometimes locking them up in her vehicle’s trunk.
When family members realized the girls were missing, cellphone records identified Hamm’s phone number. She lied to the family member who called her.
San Diego police investigated. Hamm provided false information, keeping the girls hidden over the next month and moving from San Diego to Fresno, California.
During that time, Hamm sexually assaulted the girls both individually and together, also engaging in physical and psychological abuse. The sisters were branded with a homemade brand matching Hamm’s tattoo.
The two were rescued after police officers placed a location device on a nebulizer Hamm purchased for one of the girls.
