Jeff Leach says he was trying to stop drug dealing to minors

The owner of the Venga Cafe and Basecamp lodgings in Terlingua—Jeff Dean Lynch, 59—was indicted in Brewster County last summer for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after authorities allege he smashed a man’s car with a wooden club then dragged him from a vehicle while brandishing the weapon.

The alleged attack occurred on September 16, 2024, and the indictment was in July, 2025, but it wasn’t filed publicly until December 5, 2025. The indictment states Leach did “intentionally or knowingly threaten Terry Allen Schreier with imminent bodily injury by smashing holes in the front and rear windshields of the vehicle occupied by Terry Allen Schreier with a wooden club resembling a table leg and attempting to drag Terry Allen Schreier from the vehicle ripping off his shirt, and used or exhibited a deadly weapon, namely a wooden club resembling a table leg, during the commission of the assault.” The charge is a second degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Reached on Monday afternoon by phone, Leach denied the allegations and said the public should not believe language from a one-sided grand jury indictment statement, because the defendant is not present or allowed to provide evidence in the hearing. He said he was confident he would be vindicated.

“This individual [Schreier] is selling drugs to underage individuals on my private property, which is a business,” Leach said. “In this particular case, it was a tiny 2-foot survey stick I had, and I incorrectly overreacted and smacked it on his front windshield. He was not in the car. I never touched him.”

Arrest records were not immediately available, but the indictment noted Leach had a bond of $10,000.

The long time frame between the incident and indictment is not unusual in the Big Bend, since prosecutors typically spend months working on felony cases before presenting them to grand juries. The length of time for the indictment to become public also is not unusual in Brewster County, because of a peculiarity in the way the district clerk handles them. Defendants are sent certified mail notifying them of the indictment, and the return receipt must be received by the clerk before the filing is made public—something not necessary or done in other counties.

Schreier did not reply to requests for comment.