Amarillo Man Admits to Enticement of a Minor

AMARILLO, Texas — Weston Scott Langwell, 26, of Amarillo, Texas, appeared today in federal court before U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted enticement of a minor, announced Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Langwell faces not less than 10 years and not more than life in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to a lifetime of supervised release.  He will remain in custody pending sentencing, which is scheduled for August 8, 2018.

According to the plea agreement factual resume filed in the case, on November 13, 2017, Langwell responded to a craigslist advertisement placed by Texas Department of Public Safety agents by texting the number listed. An agent posing as a sixteen year old minor female was monitoring the phone number and engaged in conversation with Langwell via text messaging. The officer sent a text to Langwell that stated she was almost 17. After Langwell learned the alleged age, he almost immediately turned the conversation to a sexual nature.

On November 14, 2017, Langwell sent a nude photograph of himself along with a sexually explicit text message. Langwell continued to communicate with the officer in a sexually explicit nature via text messages and suggested they meet up.

On November 15, 2017, Langwell and the officer agreed to meet in person. Langwell traveled to the prearranged meeting site to meet with who he believed was a 16 year old female, for sex. Agents were conducting surveillance of the prearranged meeting site and saw Langwell in the parking lot. Law enforcement moved in and arrested Langwell. Agents located condoms and a bottle of lubricant in Langwell’s possession. Additionally, a test message was sent to Langwell’s phone, and agents confirmed it was the same phone used to communicate with the UC.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood leverages federal, state and local resources to better investigate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children.  Project Safe Childhood also prioritizes identifying and rescuing victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Frausto is in charge of the prosecution.

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