Another Tuesday, another Lubbock resident who learned the hard way that the “16-year-old girl” texting him back was, in fact, a fully grown special agent with a badge and a very good memory. Jose Angel Hernandez, 33, was arrested July 14 on one count of Online Solicitation of a Minor after spending his free time sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover Texas DPS agent and then, incredibly, agreeing to show up in person.
According to the affidavit, Hernandez believed he was talking to a minor, made explicit plans anyway, and selected Clapp Park as the venue for this doomed rendezvous. Of all the places in Lubbock, he picked a public park with a duck pond — as if the whole thing weren’t already a documentary-grade example of what not to do. Spoiler: the only thing waiting for him was law enforcement and a $100,000 bond.
He’s now a guest at the Lubbock County Detention Center, presumably reflecting on the ancient wisdom that anyone eagerly agreeing to meet you at Clapp Park on a weekday afternoon is either a con artist or a cop. In this case, it was the good kind of cop.
The sting worked exactly as designed, which is genuinely the best possible outcome here. The undercover unit did its job, the guy walked directly into it, and no actual kid was ever within a hundred miles of the situation. If you’re going to get outsmarted by a text message, this is the crowd to get outsmarted in front of.
How many “she seemed legit” red flags does a man have to ignore to end up handcuffed next to a pond?
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