Disparate Treatment of Sex Offenders, Punishment and Public Policy
Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair
“Child predator” is now among the two worst words in the American lexicon. A 42-year-old Houston resident, we will call him John Doe, recently learned as much. According to allegations by law enforcement, the Magnolia High School institutional aide decided last October to look up former students on Facebook from high schools where he had worked.
Law enforcement authorities believe it started out as an innocent venture. But it did not remain innocent. A 16-year-old boy responded to John Doe’s query. John Doe had known the teenager at Westwood High School in the Round Rock school district between 2004 and 2007. Austin Detective Joel Pridgeon said the communications between the school employee and student quickly escalated from innocent online chatting to sexual solicitation.
The Houston Chronicle report about the episode did not disclose how law enforcement got involved in the case. The newspaper briefly reported that John Doe confessed when he was confronted by Pridgeon in Houston. The detective then returned to Austin where he secured a warrant charging John Doe with online solicitation of a minor. The school employee could have been charged under either of the two Texas solicitation of a minor statutes.
First, Texas Penal Code Article 33.021 defines “online solicitation of a minor”:
(a) In this section:
(1) ”Minor” means:
(A) an individual who represents himself or herself to be younger than 17 years of age; or
(B) an individual whom the actor believes to be younger than 17 years of age.
(2) ”Sexual contact,” “sexual intercourse,” and “deviate sexual intercourse” have the meanings assigned by Section 21.01.
(3) ”Sexually explicit” means any communication, language, or material, including a photographic or video image, that relates to or describes sexual conduct, as defined by Section 43.25.
(b) A person who is 17 years of age or older commits an offense if, with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, the person, over the Internet, by electronic mail or text message or other electronic message service or system, or through a commercial online service, intentionally:
(1) communicates in a sexually explicit manner with a minor; or
(2) distributes sexually explicit material to a minor.
(c) A person commits an offense if the person, over the Internet, by electronic mail or text message or other electronic message service or system, or through a commercial online service, knowingly solicits a minor to meet another person, including the actor, with the intent that the minor will engage in sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with the actor or another person. (more…)
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