Joint Task Force Investigation Leads to Arrests For Online Solicitation Charges

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Three local men have been charged in separate, but similar cases following a joint investigation conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Corpus Christi Police Department – Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (CCPD-ICAC), announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

Taylor Alan Mills, 29, and Christopher Alan Rue, 39, both of Rockport, and James Robert Kirkland, 48, of Corpus Christi, were all charged separately by criminal complaint this week for online solicitation of a minor. Mills and Kirkland made their initial appearance Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Janice Ellington, at which time they were ordered temporarily into custody pending further criminal proceedings. Rue is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon.

Each criminal complaint alleges the men were communicating with a person they believed was the mother of two minor female children – ages 14 and 11. In reality, the men were actually talking to an undercover officer. Each man expected to meet and engage in sexual contact with the minors, according to the charges. They were arrested as they arrived at the designated meeting place.

“CCPD-ICAC is proud to have partnered with HSI, FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office on this most recent operation,” said Captain Dave Cook. “We continually strive to protect our great community and maintain a safe environment for our children.  We take Internet safety seriously and will continue to remain diligent in our pursuit of online predators.”

The cases will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo R. Martinez and were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

A criminal complaint is an allegegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. 
A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.