Charged Online If You Thought They Were 18? Texas Age Rules Explained

About the author: Heather Jean Barbieri, Board Certified, Criminal Law — Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Barbieri Law Firm is an all-women criminal defense firm in Frisco, Texas, serving Collin County and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Yes, you can be charged online in Texas even if you believed the other person was an adult. The online solicitation statute defines a minor by the person’s actual age and also by the age the actor believed the person to be. Both parts of that definition are examined in the case. This guide explains how Texas age rules work, so you can see what the State must show.

Short answer: can you still be charged if you believed they were 18?

Yes. Under Texas Penal Code § 33.021, a “minor” means an individual who is younger than 17 years of age, or an individual whom the actor believes to be younger than 17 years of age. Under Texas Penal Code § 33.021, a minor is a person younger than 17, or a person the actor believes to be younger than 17. The second part of the definition covers a person the actor believes is younger than 17.

Whether a charge can be filed, and how it would be handled, depends on the facts. The review looks at the specific offense, the exact statutory wording, and the evidence of what you knew or were told about age.

Think of your belief as one part of the record. It is not a free pass. A belief that the messages contradict is much harder to support. The full conversation decides the question, not one line you remember sending.

How Texas defines a minor in online solicitation cases

The online solicitation statute has two parts. The first part is about the other person’s age. The second part is about what you intended and what you sent.

A minor is a person younger than 17. A minor also includes a person the actor believes is younger than 17. Subsection (b) requires that the actor be 17 years of age or older.

Subsection (b) covers sexually explicit communication or material sent over the Internet, email, text message, or a commercial online service. Texas Penal Code § 33.021 requires intent to commit an offense listed in Article 62.001(5)(A), (B), or (K), Code of Criminal Procedure. Subsection (c) covers knowingly soliciting a minor to meet another person for sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse. Under subsection (c), it is not a defense that the meeting did not happen.

The grade depends on the subsection and the age. Subsection (b) is a third-degree felony, or a second-degree felony if the minor is younger than 14 or the actor believes so. Subsection (c) is a second-degree felony. The Texas Attorney General’s cyber-safety initiative also covers online solicitation of minors.

Why a stated age and a profile photo are evidence, not automatic answers

A stated age is evidence. So is a profile photo, a mention of school, a grade, a curfew, or a parent. Investigators and defense lawyers both examine these details.

A profile line does not end the analysis. Neither does one message. The useful review covers the full conversation history, the timing of messages, and the account details. That record shows what was said, in what order, and what each person knew.

A reasonable belief and an assumption are different things. If the messages mention a homeroom, a class schedule, or a parent’s rules, a claimed belief of adulthood gets tested against those details. If the other person gave a consistent adult age and the rest of the messages fit that age, the record looks different. No one can say in advance how a court will weigh these details.

Fake profiles, stings, and posing as a minor

Many online solicitation cases start with a decoy profile. In these cases the person on the other end is an adult posing as a minor. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention describes how Internet Crimes Against Children task forces investigate technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children describes what online enticement involves and the grooming tactics it can include. Those descriptions help explain why a sting looks different from an ordinary chat.

Texas law also addresses entrapment. Under Texas Penal Code § 8.06, entrapment is a defense if a law enforcement agent induced the conduct by persuasion or other means likely to cause persons to commit the offense. Conduct that only gave a person an opportunity to commit the offense is not entrapment. The line between inducement and opportunity is central in these cases.

If police ask for your phone, read what happens when police ask for a phone. Do not delete messages, accounts, or devices.

Age thresholds for sexual contact: solicitation is not the only statute

Sexual assault of a child uses its own age line. Under Texas Penal Code § 22.011, a child is a person younger than 17. The child-victim subsection applies regardless of whether the person knows the child’s age at the time of the offense. Under § 22.011(a)(2), a mistake about the child’s age is not a defense, because the statute applies regardless of whether the person knows the age of the child.

Section 22.011 has affirmative defenses. One applies if the actor was the spouse of the child at the time of the offense. Another applies if the actor was not more than three years older than the victim, the victim was 14 or older, and other listed conditions are met. The affirmative defense also requires that the actor was not required to register for life as a sex offender and had no reportable conviction or adjudication under § 22.011, and that the victim was not a person the actor was prohibited from marrying under § 25.01.

A separate rule applies to close-in-age cases. Under Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.017, a finding that the defendant was not more than four years older than a victim who was at least 15, and that the conviction rests solely on the ages of both people, may allow a possible exemption from registration under article 62.301, which requires a petition and a court order.

Charges can come from the same messages under more than one statute. Under Texas Penal Code § 33.021, the actor may be prosecuted under that section, the other law, or both. Each statute needs its own age analysis.

Are 17-year-olds treated as adults in Texas criminal cases?

Seventeen is the age line in these statutes. Under § 33.021(b), the 17-year age requirement applies to the actor. A 17-year-old can be the person charged under that section.

Under § 22.011, a child is younger than 17. The age on the day of the conduct is what counts. Birthdays and dates in the record matter. Check them against the messages.

Because the line is close to 17 for both people, small date errors can change the analysis. A profile age, a birthday in a message, and the date of the chat should be lined up. Write down what each date is based on.

Penalties and enhancements that can apply

The base penalty depends on the subsection and the victim’s age. A second-degree felony carries imprisonment for not more than 20 years or less than 2 years. A fine of up to $10,000 can be added, under Texas Penal Code § 12.33.

Section 33.021 can also increase the punishment. If the offense happened during regular school hours and the actor knew or should have known the minor was enrolled in school, the punishment goes up to the next higher category.

Prior convictions matter too. Under Penal Code § 12.42(c)(2), life imprisonment is the required sentence when two conditions are met. First, the current conviction is for trafficking under § 20A.02(a)(3), (4), (7) or (8), continuous sexual abuse of a young child under § 21.02, aggravated sexual assault under § 22.021 or sexual assault under § 22.011. It may also be kidnapping under § 20.04(a)(4) committed with intent to violate or abuse the victim sexually, or burglary under § 30.02 punishable under subsection (d) and committed with the sexual-offense intent the statute specifies. Second, the defendant has a prior conviction on the subsection’s separate prior-offense list. That list covers the same categories and adds indecency with a child under § 21.11, prohibited sexual conduct under § 25.02, sexual performance by a child under § 43.25, possession or promotion of child pornography under § 43.26 and obscenity punishable under § 43.23(h). It also covers out-of-state convictions with substantially similar elements, and under § 12.42(g) a prior deferred adjudication for a listed offense counts as a prior conviction. Online solicitation of a minor under § 33.021 is not on either list in § 12.42(c)(2), so a § 33.021 conviction neither triggers that subsection’s required life sentence nor counts as a qualifying prior under it. Under Texas Penal Code § 12.46, using a conviction for enhancement does not prevent using it again later.

Registration is another serious consequence. Article 62.001 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 62.001 includes a violation of Section 33.021 (Online solicitation of a minor), Penal Code, in its registration definitions. Registration can follow a conviction, so it should be discussed early.

What happens after a police contact or charge

Most cases move through the same general stages. Police investigate, review devices and accounts, and may arrest or issue a summons. The case then moves into the court process.

Each case moves at its own pace. Read how an online sex crime case takes time in Texas for a general view of the timeline. Read how dismissal is evaluated for the general factors involved.

Write down the timeline of the messages while your memory is fresh. Keep a copy of what you have, and share it with your lawyer. Your lawyer reviews all of the evidence, including the parts you may not think matter.

Talking with a Texas defense lawyer about your situation

You may be the person who was contacted. You may be a parent who found messages, a partner who learned the other person was younger than they said, or a relative trying to understand a police call. Each position brings its own questions.

The first step is a conversation about the messages, the age information you had, and what police or prosecutors have said so far. No lawyer can know how a case will end before reviewing the record.

If you are facing these questions now, you can book a free initial consultation with no obligation to continue. Call (972) 424-1902 or send us your case details.

Quick answers

Can you be charged if you believed they were 18 in Texas? Yes. The statute defines a minor by actual age and by the actor’s belief about the person’s age.

What age makes someone a minor under Texas online solicitation law? Under § 33.021, a minor is a person younger than 17, or one the actor believes is younger than 17.

Entrapment under § 8.06 is a separate defense, and it turns on whether law enforcement induced the conduct.

Attorney responsible for this site: Heather Barbieri, Barbieri Law Firm, Frisco, Texas.