Texas Child Exploitation Unit Arrests Five Predators For Child Pornography

Staff Report

Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to:

• defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas
• represent the State in litigation
• approve public bond issues

To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state agencies and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes.

The Texas AG sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions, and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the State.

Many Texans look to the Office of the Attorney General for guidance with disputes and legal issues. The agency receives hundreds of letters, phone calls and visits each week about crime victims’ compensation, child support, abuse in nursing homes, possible consumer fraud and other topics. To find out more about the Texas Attorney General, visit the official website at https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/.

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THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL

AG Paxton’s Child Exploitation Unit Arrests Five Predators For Child Pornography

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last week that the Child Exploitation Unit (CEU) of his office arrested five men for Possession of Child Pornography during a two-week span between October 23^rd and October 31^st.

The arrested suspects include:

• Damon Todd Turner, 52, of College Station, arrested October 23 on one count of Possession of Child Pornography. 
• Justin Howard Everett, 37, of College Station, arrested October 24 on one count of Promotion of Child Pornography. 
• Enoch Santo Rivera, 35, of Bedias, Texas, arrested on October 29 on five counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
• Jason Dominguez, 29, of College Station, arrested on October 30 on three counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
• Carl David Baxter, 43, of College Station, arrested on October 31 on four counts of Possession of Child Pornography.

“I commend the hard-working investigators from my office’s Child Exploitation Unit for stopping these child-predators from potentially harming more innocent children,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton. “This grotesque behavior is clearly rampant across the country and it serves as a reminder that we, as a community, must continue to protect the vulnerable from exploitation.”

Turner, Everett, Rivera, Dominguez and Baxter were each arrested after CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notified CEU that Rivera uploaded child pornography to an internet service account, Everett and Dominguez uploaded child pornography to social media applications, and Turner and Baxter uploaded child pornography to an internet search engine. Investigators executed search warrants at each of the men’s residences.

Numerous digital devices were seized by the CEU to be examined by the Digital Forensics Unit. Rivera was transported to the Grimes County Jail, while Turner, Everett, Dominguez and Baxter were all transported to the Brazos County Jail.

Attorney General Paxton’s office works to protect children by using the latest technology to track down some of the most profoundly evil predators online.

Since its inception, the Child Exploitation Unit has made 347 arrests and obtained 593 convictions on charges for possession of child pornography.

Attorney General Paxton urges all parents and teachers to become aware of the risks children face on the internet and take steps to help ensure their safety. If you suspect someone is producing or downloading child pornography, you can report it to NCMEC.

For more information on cyber safety, please visit: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/cyber-safety/.

Smith County Conducts Child Support Roundup

Smith County Sheriff’s Department and Tyler, Lindale, Troup, and Arp Police Department and Smith County District Attorney’s Office arrest 34 parents for failure to pay child support…

AUSTIN – The Smith County Sheriff’s Department along with the Tyler, Lindale, Troup, and Arp Police Departments and Smith County District Attorney’s Office, led a child support roundup that started on Friday, November 1, 2019.

They arrested 34 Smith County parents who violated court orders requiring them to pay child support. The sweep was conducted in conjunction with the Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Division to locate parents wanted for failing to pay their court-ordered child support.

“Caring for your children is the fundamental moral responsibility of any parent,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “I commend everyone involved in holding those who attempt to evade child support accountable. Their efforts help ensure better care and better lives for Texas children.”

This effort demonstrates the hard work and collaboration between city, county and state government. A total of 13 teams of law enforcement officers were dispatched to locate and arrest the noncompliant parents before they had a chance to leave their homes for the day.

Child Support Division investigators assisted in the effort by providing logistical assistance and helping locate missing parents.

Delinquent parents arrested on civil warrants face up to six months in jail. Cash bonds posted by delinquent parents seeking release from jail are paid to the custodial parents and children who are owed back child support.

Parents who have fallen behind on their child support payments – but are not subject to warrants for their arrest – should immediately contact the Attorney General’s Child Support Division at (800) 252-8014 to make payment arrangements.

AG Paxton Applauds Kentucky Supreme Court for Upholding Religious Liberty

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the Kentucky Supreme Court for ruling in favor of Blaine Adamson’s right to refuse printing messages that violate his religious beliefs.

The case began when Adamson, owner of the print shop Hands On Originals, declined to print shirts with messages promoting the Lexington Pride Festival for the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO).

Although he declined to print the shirts himself, he offered to connect GLSO to another business who would print their requested shirts.

Despite receiving the shirts free of charge from another printer, GLSO filed a complaint against Adamson with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission.

“The right to free speech and the free exercise of religion applies to all aspects of one’s life, not just at home or in a place of worship, and artistic work is an inherently expressive form of free speech protected by the First Amendment,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Forcing individuals to accommodate or affirm beliefs that are contrary to their own faith is un-American and blatantly unconstitutional.”

This case closely resembles the cases of Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop and Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers, two independent business owners forced into lawsuits for asserting their right to religious liberty and denial of custom creations that violated their religious beliefs.

To view the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling, click here.  

AG Paxton Leads 16 States in Supreme Court Amicus Brief Defending Religious Freedom

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today led 16 states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the United States Supreme Court supporting the Little Sisters of the Poor’s right to an exemption from the Obama-era U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate, which required employers to offer insurance coverage for contraceptives.

After years of litigation over the Obama-era mandate, the Trump administration issued a rule that allowed the Little Sisters and similar religious employers to claim a religious exemption from the mandate. Last January, a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump rule.

The Little Sisters, a Pennsylvania-based group of Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor, defied the Obamacare mandate to subsidize the provision of contraceptives to their employees and have waged a years-long battle against the Obamacare mandate all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned lower court rulings against the Little Sisters; however, California and Pennsylvania both challenged the Little Sisters’ religious exemption from the Obamacare mandate under the Trump administration rule.

According to the mandate, if the Little Sisters do not provide contraceptive coverage to employees, they will be required to pay thousands of dollars in government fines.

“The Trump administration correctly granted a religious exemption that was absolutely necessary to protect the Little Sisters and others like them from being forced to violate their deeply-held religious and moral convictions,” said Attorney General Paxton. “To deny this exemption is an assault on religious liberty and rights of conscience. Federal law requires the government to respect religious beliefs, and this case is no exception.”

As stated in the brief, federal agencies must accommodate religious objectors when their regulations impose a substantial burden on religion.

The Obama-era contraceptive mandate violates the federal Religious Freedoms Restoration Act (RFRA), which Congress passed in 1993 and President Clinton signed into law. RFRA protects the religious liberty of individuals and entities from interference by the federal government.

Texas is joined in the friend-of-the-court brief by Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

To view a copy of today’s amicus brief, click here.  

AG Paxton Leads 11-State Brief Asking SCOTUS to Evaluate Constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton led 11 states in a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the United States Supreme Court, asking it to accept a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB is an independent federal agency subject to little oversight.

Its leadership is not composed of a board or group of commissioners, like most federal agencies, but by a single administrator unaccountable to Congress or the President.

The result is that the administrator can unilaterally enforce 19 different federal laws, covering everything from home finance and student loans to credit cards and banking practices.

The structure of the CFPB violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, and the ratification of past acts by an acting director who claims to be removable at will does not change the fact that the Constitution prohibits the current structure of the CFPB as a whole.

“The CFPB’s structure allows for an unelected and unaccountable director to effectively wield more power than any official in the U.S. government aside from the President of the United States,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This considerable power being held by a public official who is not held accountable to the President, Congress, or the People is an intolerable violation of our Constitution and an threat to the liberty of every American.”

Texas previously supported a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the CFPB and its Arbitration Rule in October 2017, filing a multi-state amicus brief with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

A month later, President Trump and Congress rescinded the Arbitration Rule. Attorney General Paxton also led a coalition of states with several friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the president’s authority to appoint an acting CFPB director, even though the underlying structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional. 

Notification of Opinion

Original Request for Opinion:  RQ-0300-KP
Authority of a credit services organization to assist a consumer with obtaining an extension of consumer credit in a form other than a deferred presentment transaction or a motor vehicle title loan

Official Opinion KP-0277

“Chapter 393 of the Finance Code does not restrict credit services organizations, other than when operating as credit access businesses, from obtaining for a consumer or assisting in obtaining an extension of consumer credit in a form other than a deferred presentment transaction or motor vehicle title loan.

A determination about whether any specific extension of credit complies with the requirements of chapter 393 will involve a factual inquiry into the precise offering, and such questions are beyond the scope of an attorney general opinion.”