Online Sex Crime Bond Conditions in Collin County

Online sex crime bond conditions are the written rules you must follow while you are out of jail awaiting trial. A judge or magistrate sets them for your case, and breaking one can lead to a new charge. This page explains them for Collin County arrests. Online solicitation of a minor to meet for sexual contact is a second-degree felony under Texas Penal Code § 33.021, so the paperwork matters from day one.

What a Bond Condition Is and How It Differs From the Bond Amount

A bond condition is a rule you must follow for your release, separate from the dollar amount. The amount is the money or surety that secures your release. The conditions are the limits you agree to live by while you are out.

You can meet the bond amount and still break a condition. A broken condition can mean a new arrest, so learn each rule early.

Judges set conditions for each case and write them on your bond paperwork. That paperwork controls what you may and may not do. Read it line by line, not from a summary.

Start with these items:

• Every rule on the form, including limits on contact, devices, travel and location.
• Your next court date and any hearing listed.
• Any emergency or protective order served on you, since it can add rules of its own.

If you cannot follow a rule, such as a location you must leave, raise it with your lawyer quickly. Changing a condition goes through the court, not through talks with the other side.

Bond Conditions a Judge May Order in an Online Sex Crime Case

A judge can order limits on contact, locations, monitoring and devices, and your order lists the exact rules. Every case differs, so the wording on your paperwork is what counts. Common limits include:

• No contact. Under Article 17.292 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, when a person arrested for family violence or for certain listed offenses, including sexual assault, indecent assault, trafficking and stalking, first appears before a magistrate, the magistrate can bar threatening or harassing contact with a protected person in an emergency protection order. It can also bar other contact, except through an attorney or a court-appointed person, if the court finds good cause. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 7B.005
• Location limits. An order can keep you away from the residence, place of employment or business, or child-care facility or school of the protected person or a member of their family or household. The order must describe each prohibited location and the minimum distance. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 7B.005 reads: “This subsection does not apply to a protective order with respect to which the court has received a request to maintain confidentiality of information revealing the locations.” Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 7B.005
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 17.292
• Firearm limits. A protective order can bar you from possessing a firearm, unless you are a peace officer actively employed as a sworn, full-time paid employee of a state agency or political subdivision. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 7B.005
• Device and account rules. Some orders also bar tracking or monitoring personal property or a motor vehicle of the protected person without their effective consent, including by using a tracking application on a personal electronic device or a tracking device. Read the exact wording before you use any device.

Child safety zones come later, not at bond. A judge who grants community supervision in certain child-victim cases must set a 1,000-foot zone away from places where children gather. You can ask the court to modify that zone if it interferes with your ability to attend school or hold a job and constitutes an undue hardship, or if it is broader than needed to protect the public. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.453

How Bond Is Set After an Arrest in Collin County

Bond and early conditions are first addressed at your first appearance before a magistrate. The charge is read there, and the court begins setting your release terms.

Bond usually comes in three forms:

• Cash bond. You pay the full bond amount to the court.
• Surety bond. A bail bondsman posts the bond for you under an agreement with the court.
• Personal bond. You are released on a signed agreement to return to court.

Emergency protection orders are a separate tool. After an arrest for family violence or certain sexual assault offenses, a magistrate may issue one. An order for emergency protection takes effect on issuance, and the defendant must be served a copy of it.

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 17.292

In your first days, gather your bond paperwork, every court date, and any family or CPS orders. Write down the name of each person the order protects.

How Bond Conditions Interact With a Divorce, Custody Case or CPS Case

A criminal bond order, a protective order and a family or CPS order can each limit contact with your children.

• Protective orders. In a family violence case, a court can bar you from going near a child’s residence or school. The order must describe each location. Texas Family Code § 85.022
• How long they last. If an order sets no end date, it lasts until the second anniversary of issuance. For a listed offense with life registration under Chapter 62, the court must issue an order for the lives of both people. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 7B.007
• Agreements don’t end orders. Reconciliation between you and the other parent does not by itself change a court order. Under Article 7B.007(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the following persons may file at any time an application with the court to rescind the protective order: a victim of an offense listed in Article 7B.001(a)(1) or (2) who is 18 or older; a parent or guardian acting for a victim of such an offense who is younger than 18 or an adult ward, but not a parent or guardian who is the alleged offender subject to the order; or another person who filed the application for the order. Texas Penal Code § 25.07

Track every deadline in one list. Include each court, each date and each order or safety plan. Tell your lawyer about every one, because a date in one matter can affect the others.

What you say in one case can matter in another. Route conversations about the charge through your lawyer, not through the other parent or caseworkers.

What Happens If a Bond Condition Is Violated, and What to Do Now

A violated bond condition can become a new crime, and repeated violations can raise the charge. In a family violence, sexual assault or abuse case, breaking a bond condition tied to safety is an offense. Under Texas Penal Code § 25.07, a person commits an offense only if, in violation of one of the court orders listed in that section or of a condition of bond set in a family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking case and related to the safety of a victim or the safety of the community, the person knowingly or intentionally does one of the acts the statute lists. Those acts include committing family violence, communicating with a protected individual in a prohibited manner, going to or near specifically described places, possessing a firearm, and harming, threatening, or interfering with the care, custody, or control of a protected person’s pet, companion animal, or assistance animal. Under Texas Penal Code § 25.072, a person commits an offense if, during a period that is 12 months or less in duration, the person two or more times engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 25.07. That offense is a felony of the third degree, except that it is a felony of the second degree if at least one time the person engaged in conduct that was punishable as a state jail felony under Section 25.07(g)(1)(B). Texas Penal Code § 25.072

A violation can also lead to a new arrest and to changes in your release terms. Take these steps now:

1. Follow every condition exactly, including the ones that seem minor.
2. Do not contact the complainant or any child the order names, in any form. That includes contact through someone else or online.
3. Do not delete, change or hide any device, app or account the conditions mention.
4. Keep the bond paperwork, the list of conditions and every court date in one folder.
5. Bring that folder to your first meeting with a lawyer.

Ask your lawyer whether a condition can be changed, and which facts a request would rely on.

Why Barbieri Law Firm Handles These Cases

Barbieri Law Firm is an all-women criminal defense firm in Frisco, Texas. It defends people accused of sex crimes and assaultive offenses in Collin County, Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas.

Heather Jean Barbieri, Board Certified, Criminal Law — Texas Board of Legal Specialization. That certification belongs to her, not to the firm as a whole.

The firm’s lawyers, Heather Barbieri and Carrie Thomas, review your bond paperwork, the charging documents and the evidence with you. They explain your options in plain language. Our team, including support staff, helps keep your court dates organized.

When you meet, the firm walks through each line of your paperwork. That shows you which rules apply today and which may change later.

No honest lawyer can say how a bond hearing or a case will end. Conditions are set for your case, and the court makes the final decision.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bond Conditions After an Online Sex Crime Arrest