SNYDER (WBAP/KLIF News ) – A North Texas man is facing ten years to life in federal prison for trying to meet who he thought was a thirteen-year-old girl for sex at a neighborhood park in Snyder.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton announced on Wednesday that a jury convicted 38-year-old Jose Espinoza Junior of attempted enticement of a minor.
During the trial, police testified an officer created a fake social media profile posing as a girl named “Maddie.”
Espinoza reached out to Maddie and immediately began discussing sexual activity and requesting photographs. The picture used was actually an age-regressed photo of the officer.
After receiving the photo, Espinoza asked Maddie how old she was. “I am almost 14,” she replied. Prosecutors said he continued to send lewd and lascivious messages, asking Maddi about her body and her sexual history and detailing what he wanted to do to her.
“You really are a kid aren’t you,” he wrote. “I’m a horny old guy…guys get locked up for talking to girls like you.”
Two days later, Espinoza told Maddi to meet him at a park near her house. He promised the child Skittles and whisky and aid he would bring a towel, as Maddie would likely bleed following intercourse.
“Idk if I wanna do it I am scared,” she said.
Espinoza responded with a laughing emoji, hen told her she was “so whiny” and needed to “relax.”
He was arrested February 7 when he showed up at the park and police found Skittles, whiskey, condoms, a towel and a gun in his car.
According to a news release, Espinoza Jr. pleaded guilty in May before Magistrate Judge D. Gordon Bryant Jr. but withdrew the plea before the District court accepted, citing intimidation by counsel.
Following a two-day trial, it took jurors less than thirty minutes to find Espinoza guilty.
The investigation was conducted by the Snyder Police Department and the FBI’s Dallas Field Office.
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