After countless episodes of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” and the constant (and overbearing) public crusading against online predators by our own Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, is there anyone still out there that actually believes that 13-year-old online is actually a 13-year-old and not a cyber cop?
Apparently, yes – and the most recent to fall prey in Texas is someone you’d think would know better: Former Westlake Hills cop Paul Kirksey. (Insert inappropriate joke here.) According to Abbott’s office, a Llano Co. grand jury on Sept. 9 indicted Kirksey on five felony counts of online solicitation of a minor. The AG’s Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Kirksey in January after he allegedly distributed “sexually explicit images” to someone he thought was – wait for it – a 13-year-old girl.
According to the AG’s office, Abbott’s cyber squad has nabbed more than 700 “sex predators” since 2003.
This article appears in September 12 • 2008.