Threatened With a Solicitation Charge by a Minor I Met Through Craigslist

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

I placed an ad on Craigslist and received a response from a person telling me to text him.
I texted and sent my face picture. Then the person stated he was 17 and we continued texting when I reread his stats and saw his age. I got nervous and just cut the conversation.
Next day in the afternoon I got an angry phone call from someone claiming to be his father saying if I didnt
give him cash to send his son away to another state he would turn the phone to the police.
I got nervous and agreed to meet at a Walmart. He didnt show up but kept calling me pressuring to get a Green Dot money card and put 850.00 the difference on a plane ticket. I was about to give him the money but the card itself said not to give any money to people you dont know.
I called 911 and spoke to a cop. The cop spoke to the man and he cursed them out. He told me to change my phone number but the freakiest thing happened after the cop left my house.
I received a phone call from an officer at a local police station saying a man was there with a phone and what looked like a conversation I had with a minor. He said he would call back but didnt. Then the man texted me saying I had one last chance to give him the money or he would go back. I told him, but you already told on me! and he said he took away the number from the officer and he had the phone with the evidence. I changed my number but now I am so confuse about all of this. Could he go so far to go to an actual police station quickly with this lie just so I give him the money? If I did something wrong I am willing to pay, but not to be blackmailed about it. Please help me with any history of similar cases or what can i expect about my conviction if this is all true!

Giving him money isn't going to make him go away. It's going to result in his asking for more money.

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Quoting alexchase32

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

I placed an ad on Craigslist and received a response from a person telling me to text him.
I texted and sent my face picture. Then the person stated he was 17 and we continued texting when I reread his stats and saw his age. I got nervous and just cut the conversation.
Next day in the afternoon I got an angry phone call from someone claiming to be his father saying if I didnt
give him cash to send his son away to another state he would turn the phone to the police.
I got nervous and agreed to meet at a Walmart. He didnt show up but kept calling me pressuring to get a Green Dot money card and put 850.00 the difference on a plane ticket. I was about to give him the money but the card itself said not to give any money to people you dont know.
I called 911 and spoke to a cop. The cop spoke to the man and he cursed them out. He told me to change my phone number but the freakiest thing happened after the cop left my house.
I received a phone call from an officer at a local police station saying a man was there with a phone and what looked like a conversation I had with a minor. He said he would call back but didnt. Then the man texted me saying I had one last chance to give him the money or he would go back. I told him, but you already told on me! and he said he took away the number from the officer and he had the phone with the evidence. I changed my number but now I am so confuse about all of this. Could he go so far to go to an actual police station quickly with this lie just so I give him the money? If I did something wrong I am willing to pay, but not to be blackmailed about it. Please help me with any history of similar cases or what can i expect about my conviction if this is all true!

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Change your phone number...you are being scammed.

age of consent in Texas is 17. ignore the guy.

even if he was under the age of consent; the cops would already have the info. When/if the guy made a report, the cop would have documented the pertinent information so taking the phone back wouldn't change a thing. It would be too late to prevent a prosecution now anyway.

Change your number. Do not give this guy any money. If he contacts you again, YOU go to the police.

And lesson learned - be cautious with who you are talking to online. And seriously, don't place singles ads on CraigsList unless you're just looking for a one-night hookup.

Thank you. A friend told me to use it for that but this that happened is so dangerous and crazy.

Your friend telling you to use Craigslist to find "people" is a bit like your friend telling you to take a long walk off of a short pier.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Your friend telling you to use Craigslist to find "people" is a bit like your friend telling you to take a long walk off of a short pier.

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I know.. but the weirdest thing still is that the man went to an actual police office in the city and showed the phone to an officer. Why would he do that? Now should I go tomorrow and try to track down this officer he spoke with to show them the texts, voicemails with threats etc? or let them track me if this was real. It's so confusing!

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Quoting jk

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age of consent in Texas is 17. ignore the guy.

even if he was under the age of consent; the cops would already have the info. When/if the guy made a report, the cop would have documented the pertinent information so taking the phone back wouldn't change a thing. It would be too late to prevent a prosecution now anyway.

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And of course, no one in the history of the world has ever lied about their age. :rolleyes:

Let them track you down if it is real. However, any more messages from that guy then you need to go to the police yourself.

Out of curiosity. how do you know that the call you received after the responding cop left, was from a cnother cop from the police station. Aside from his statement that he was a cop, what other proof is there?

Scary enough the call was from an official number, yet a general number according to the phone operator when I called back asking for the same officer. Operator said that number appears from any office there in the police department. I am past the freak out stage to be in the whatever stage, because if it is extortion then its a very elaborate one. The blackmailer said he left the officer speaking and took away the number and the phone so if we arranged the cash he would stop, yet he would have 'told on me' so why pay him for that. Could he have someone in the police helping him? I changed my number yesterday so I am not receiving his phone calls yet he could have done some damage.

I know consenting age is 17 but not sure if that applies to solicitation. I feel like if I attempt to track the officer I will put the foot in my mouth, but on the other hand would like to know if he exists or can clarify me the age thing for solicitation. It's gotten ridiculous.

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Quoting cbg

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And of course, no one in the history of the world has ever lied about their age. :rolleyes:

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true but if they represented themselves as a 17 yo and especially since there was no contact, in fact, nothing more than some texts, there is no crime, even if it was a 12 yo kid.

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Quoting alexchase32

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I know.. but the weirdest thing still is that the man went to an actual police office in the city and showed the phone to an officer. Why would he do that? Now should I go tomorrow and try to track down this officer he spoke with to show them the texts, voicemails with threats etc? or let them track me if this was real. It's so confusing!

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You do not know the scammer spoke to the police! You said you got a PHONE call from someone CLAIMING to be the police!

Variations of this scam include people calling from spoofed numbers claiming to be the FBI or a state justice agency with a warrant for your arrest unless you pay X dollars in fines!

I doubt very much that the police are seriously involved.

Ignore the guy, and unless the police show up at your door, move on.

Oh, and meet people the old fashioned way - say, "Hi," and engage them in conversation. Craigslist is notorious for thieves, scam artists, prostitution and pedophiles. If that is your preferred method of meeting people, I have to wonder as to which category you might fit into ...

But the call came from a real number!
I never said claiming to be the police, the number was real. I don't know if the officer who called me is real, could be some fake making the scammer story sound real so I can cave in and give the money. One thing I am sure is that I will not give any money, even if its true and I get in trouble.
Now if the scammer is so good and can fake that number and can call from there then it is more twisted.

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Quoting jk

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true but if they represented themselves as a 17 yo and especially since there was no contact, in fact, nothing more than some texts, there is no crime, even if it was a 12 yo kid.

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Well, the texts were about sex. This 'fake' responded to my ad and we texted about hooking up but after analyzing his age and that he wasnt very good looking I decided to cut the conversation.

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alexchase32;767005]But the call came from a real number!

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since all numbers are real, that would make sense.

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Well, the texts were about sex. This 'fake' responded to my ad and we texted about hooking up .

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and? at 17 he can legally consent to sex.


if you are a troll, it's time to get your Craigslist back out and find somebody to occupy you. If you aren't, stop; nothing is going to happen.

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Quoting alexchase32

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But the call came from a real number!
I never said claiming to be the police, the number was real. I don't know if the officer who called me is real, could be some fake making the scammer story sound real so I can cave in and give the money. One thing I am sure is that I will not give any money, even if its true and I get in trouble.
Now if the scammer is so good and can fake that number and can call from there then it is more twisted.

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Numbers can be spoofed. If you are real and not a troll, then you need to know this.
If you are real, this person is trying to scam you.
If you are not, maybe others can learn from this thread.

Not trolling, its just that when you go through something so bizarre it feels like you want to know some solution. Also, you want to know the laws and you didnt break them!

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Quoting alexchase32

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But the call came from a real number!

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You realize that you can scam a real number, right?

I can make it so that the number you see on your caller ID is the actual phone number of the police department even if I'm calling from a pre-paid cell phone!

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I never said claiming to be the police, the number was real.

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The number may have been real, but that doesn't mean that the person at the other end was who they claimed to be. These are scams, and technology gives these guys the edge.

And trolling on Craigslist for hookups makes people like you vulnerable to these scams and blackmail attempts.

Ya know, there once was a time, long long ago, when people actually performed a time-tested ritual called "dating." No, it didn't result in instant sex, but it did result in the building of solid relationships ... and, <gasp!> even marriages that lasted for a lifetime! But, from a purely practical standpoint, DATING tends to remove the scam-artist from the equation and allows people to actually KNOW the person they're seeing rather than making an appointment for their own blackmail, mugging, or even killing ... or, risking the cops being at the other end of the hookup. (Yes, the po-po do hit CL to bust prostitution and pedophile rings.)

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Quoting mmmagique

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Numbers can be spoofed. If you are real and not a troll, then you need to know this.
If you are real, this person is trying to scam you.
If you are not, maybe others can learn from this thread.

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omg.. just looked this up and yes, I am sure this happened and I was about to give the money with that last scare of the officer.. Still did not surrender, thank you for the tip. This looks like a full blown scam then.. I am amazed at how they prey on people. I think I should just forget about all of this but then I feel like a movie..then someone knocks on the door
After the cop left I was so relieved, and then this spoof calls..omg, I am in trauma!

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[QUOTE=cdwjava;767016]You realize that you can scam a real number, right?

I can make it so that the number you see on your caller ID is the actual phone number of the police department even if I'm calling from a pre-paid cell phone!


The number may have been real, but that doesn't mean that the person at the other end was who they claimed to be. These are scams, and technology gives these guys the edge.

And trolling on Craigslist for hookups makes people like you vulnerable to these scams and blackmail attempts.



Don't say that, its too creepy if you can fake it. Totally fell for this.