Texas man exchanged 7,700 texts in month with child he enticed for sex acts, feds say
.JPG "John David Martinez of Shallowater, Texas, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury convicted him of enticement of a child for sex acts, officials say.")
A Texas man accused of exchanging thousands of texts with an 11-year-old to lure the child into sex acts is going to prison for life, authorities say.
A watchful babysitter helped uncover the case.
John David Martinez, a 34-year-old Shallowater man, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after he was convicted of enticement of a minor in December, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Authorities described Martinez as a “dangerous predator.”
“His admissions provide alarming insight into the methods he used to entice a young child for his own criminal gratification,” Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said in a news release.
Martinez began texting the child in July 2018, and they exchanged more than 7,700 messages during a one-month period, authorities say.
“You wanna have sex with me?” Martinez asked in a message, according to authorities, and later texted, “This stays between us.”
The babysitter alerted the child’s parents after spotting text messages on the phone, authorities say.
Authorities say Martinez has previously sexually abused children.
Shallowater is a small city northwest of Lubbock.