Grapevine man gets 12 years for soliciting child to have sex with him

A Grapevine man convicted of soliciting a 9-year-old girl to have sex with him after she to got out of school was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison.

Jonathan Butler, 38, was found guilty of online solicitation of a minor under 14 years old, on Wednesday by a Tarrant County jury.

Those same jurors returned Thursday afternoon and sent the Grapevine man who has children of his own to prison

He rejected a plea deal of seven years in prison in January, saying the case should be dismissed because of entrapment, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.

Butler avoided a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the second-degree felony.

Butler was arrested in February 2016 in Justin, where he thought he was going to meet the girl.

The girl’s mother had alerted police in February 2016 after she saw “suspicious texts” on her daughter’s phone.

“The mother pretended to be the daughter and texted him back,” Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling told the Star-Telegram in a February 2016 interview. “He soon sent her inappropriate sexual texts.”

With the help of investigators, a text was sent to Butler about meeting the girl in Justin, Eberling said.

“He knew that she would be out of school, so he drove there in anticipation of getting a text from the girl as to a location where they would meet,” Eberling said.

Butler gave investigators permission to search his phone and apartment.

Investigators said Butler did not meet the girl online, but that his children knew the 9-year-old and he had gotten her telephone number when the children were together.

Butler, who was married at the time of his arrest and was a receptionist at a Trophy Club motel, has remained in the Tarrant County Jail since February 2016.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Grapevine man gets 12 years for soliciting child to have sex with him."