Staff Report
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to:
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/.
WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP OF THE STATE’S
TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER…
THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL
AG Paxton Files Brief Supporting States’ Right to Enact Uniform Minimum Wage Laws
AUSTIN – Leading a six-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the State of Alabama’s authority to require a uniform minimum wage across the state.
Twenty-eight states, including Alabama and Texas, have laws preempting municipalities from enacting their own minimum wage ordinances.
The Alabama Legislature passed the Uniform Minimum Wage and Right-to-Work Act in 2016 after the city of Birmingham attempted to set its own local minimum wage ordinance.
Several groups filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in connection with the state law. A U.S. District Court tossed the lawsuit in 2017. However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed the ruling and then later withdrew its decision so the full court could rehear the case.
“The broader issue in this case is that municipalities such as the city of Birmingham can’t be allowed to circumvent state law just because they disagree with the judgment of their state’s elected representatives,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Our multistate coalition is confident the 11th Circuit will side with Alabama and dismiss the lawsuit.”
Texas is joined on the friend-of-the-court brief by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana and Missouri.
View a copy of the brief here.
Killeen Couple Each Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault of Children and Infants
WACO – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that Christopher Almaguer, 27, and Sarah Rashelle Almaguer, 27, were each sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting potentially 25 minors, including multiple infants, as well as producing child pornography in central Texas.
Paul Perez, Jr., 25, Christopher Almaguer’s brother, was also sentenced to 20 years for receipt of child pornography.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, the U.S. Secret Service, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Temple Police Department and the Killeen Police Department worked collaboratively on this case.
United States District Judge Alan D Albright also ordered the Almaguers to each pay $10,000 to the Justice Victims of Trafficking Fund and be placed on supervised release for the remainder of their lives after completing their time in prison.
The Almaguers were arrested last October by Attorney General Paxton’s Child Exploitation Unit and admitted to recording and uploading explicit videos of themselves sexually assaulting children as young as eight months old. The Almaguers and Perez have remained in custody since their arrest.
“My office does all it can to protect Texans, and I am proud of the difficult work that my Child Exploitation Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice undertakes in order to keep our children safe from dangerous predators,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The detestable people who perpetuate such horrific crimes against children must be held accountable for their actions.”
The Texas Attorney General’s Office works to protect children by using the latest technology to track down some of the most profoundly evil predators online.
The CEU proactively seeks out and arrests predators who commit crimes against children using technology and online sources.
Attorney General Paxton urges all parents and teachers to become aware of the risks our children face on the internet and take steps to help ensure their children’s 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://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/cyber-safety.
Request For Opinion
Re RQ-0284-KP: Whether a sheriff may expend commissary funds for a salary stipend for a deputy sheriff with duties related to operation of the commissary
To read full request go to: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/51paxton/rq/2019/pdf/RQ0284KP.pdf
Received: Thursday, April 18, 2019
Requestor: The Honorable Noble D. Walker, Jr.
Hunt County District Attorney
Post Office Box 441
Greenville, Texas 75403-0441
Request For Opinion
Re RQ-0283-KP: Authority of the State to obtain an arrest warrant for a defendant previously released on pre-trial bond conditions if credible evidence exists he violated those conditions
To read full request go to: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/51paxton/rq/2019/pdf/RQ0283KP.pdf
Received: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Requestor: The Honorable Mark A. Gonzalez
105th Judicial District Attorney
Nueces County Courthouse
901 Leopard, Room 206
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-3681
AG Paxton Files Brief Supporting Federal Law Giving Texas, Other States More Tools to Fight Sex Trafficking
AUSTIN – Leading a 21-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a federal law that gives state prosecutors greater authority to take legal action against websites that host sex-trafficking ads.
In his friend-of-the-court brief, Attorney General Paxton urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to uphold last year’s lower court dismissal of a constitutional challenge to the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA).
Among other things, FOSTA ensures that prosecutors across the country may go after anyone who intentionally facilitates sex trafficking online. It also creates the ability for state attorneys general to bring civil suits against violators of federal prostitution laws.
“Texas and other states dedicated to combating human trafficking need the assistance of tools like the ones provided by FOSTA to target criminal activity involving those who knowingly participate in the sex trafficking of women and children,” Attorney General Paxton said. “FOSTA isn’t a threat to any websites that aren’t knowingly violating criminal laws.”
FOSTA amended the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which websites such as Backpage.com used to claim immunity from criminal and civil actions. FOSTA passed the U.S. Senate, 97-2, last March and was signed into law by President Trump last April.
Its impact on the internet was immediate, as Craigslist and other sites shut down sex-related areas and stopped accepting sex-related ads.
Attorney General Paxton has made combating human trafficking a top priority. Three years ago, he launched his office’s Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section, which prosecutes human traffickers across the state. Since then, 23 cases have been resolved with pleas or trials.
Most recently, the section’s prosecutors obtained a conviction and 55-year prison sentence of a man who forced two young women into sex trafficking after having contacted the youngest of them online.
Last April, the section’s prosecution of Backpage.com resulted in the company pleading guilty to human trafficking in Texas and its CEO, Carl Ferrer, pleading guilty to money laundering.
The attorney general’s office also assisted the U.S. Department of Justice with permanently shutting down Backpage, which was considered the largest online sex trafficking marketplace in the U.S..
In January 2018, Attorney General Paxton unveiled a powerful training video to teach Texans how to spot and report suspected human trafficking activity. “Be the One in the Fight Against Human Trafficking” is available for viewing online at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/human-trafficking.
Texas is joined on the friend-of-the-court brief by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
View a copy of the brief here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2019%200422%20States’%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf.
AG Paxton’s Child Exploitation Unit Arrests McLennan County Man for Possession of Child Pornography
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that the Child Exploitation Unit of his office arrested 50-year-old Stevenson Randolph Carl, of Waco, Texas, on five counts of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison per charge.
An undercover investigation by the Child Exploitation Unit determined that child pornography was shared from a device with an IP address belonging to Carl. During a search of his home, investigators found multiple images of child pornography on Carl’s desktop computer.
They also confiscated a number of digital storage devices that will be examined by the Digital Forensics Unit of the attorney general’s office.
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.
The Child Exploitation Unit proactively seeks out and arrests predators who commit crimes against children using technology and online sources.
Attorney General Paxton urges all parents and teachers to become aware of the risks our children face on the internet and take steps to help ensure their children’s safety. If you suspect someone is producing or downloading child pornography you can report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
For more information on cyber safety, please visit: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/cyber-safety/.
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