HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The owner of a Kemah landscaping business has been arrested after he allegedly solicited an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl for sex.
Lance Anthony Hoffpauir, 42, is charged with online solicitation of a minor. He was arrested on Thursday by the Harris County Pct. 1 Constable’s Office.
We arrested Anthony Hoffpauir, 42, today for Online Solicitation of a Minor. The Houston resident, confessed he has worked as a junior-high teacher and been a church youth volunteer. We ask anyone with info on his interaction with children to call us at 281-222-4929. #hownews pic.twitter.com/HyRA6ySdOK
— Constable Alan Rosen (@ConstableRosen) February 13, 2025
The arrest comes following a two-month long investigation, according to authorities.
Court documents indicate Hoffpauir is the owner of Hoff Landscaping out of Kemah.
According to the documents, on Dec. 21, 2024, an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl received a private message from an unknown man on an undisclosed social media application.
The man, later identified as Hoffpauir, sent a message saying “Hi, you there? Send a pic of you. Old enough to be your dad,” according to the court records.
Hoffpauir told the undercover officer he was 42-years-old and asked her to send a picture of herself. Pictures were exchanged between the undercover officer and Hoffpauir.
“Wow, you talk to a lot of older guys? You met any guys in person?” Hoffpauir asked, according to the court records.
The conversations became sexual with Hoffpauir allegedly asking the officer if she wanted to meet with him for sex.
“He was very descriptive in great detail about what he wanted to do to this, what he perceived as a young female. And he went to a lot of effort to discuss what he wanted to do. He sent some photos of himself, was asking for some photos, just a very sick, it’s a very sick kind of a case,” said Harris County Pct. 1 Constable Alan Rosen.
On Jan. 3, detectives were able to positively identify Hoffpauir by running the photo of himself he sent to the officer through an AI tool. Facial recognition technology was able to find a previous mugshot of Hoffpauir from the Galveston County Jail as well as match his face to the profile picture on an Instagram profile.
According to the court records, Hoffpauir sent approximately 30 sexually explicit photos to the undercover officer. In the messages, Hoffpauir indicated he believed the undercover officer was a teenage girl with questions asked such as, “How’s school?” and, “Do your parents come out when they pick you up?” He also allegedly referred to the undercover officer as “My little teen princess,” and, “My teen girlfriend.”
During a later discussion where Hoffpauir allegedly asked the undercover officer to meet, he asked questions like, “I’m not going to get in trouble if we do? I’m not going to get ambushed by 60 mins?”
The court documents say Hoffpauir explained he was talking about the TV show 60 Minutes.
“They have a segment. Catch a predator. Which I’m not,” Hoffpauir allegedly said according to the court documents.
Rosen says Hoffpauir also told them he has been a junior-high history teacher and a church youth volunteer in the past.
Rosen says Hoffpauir was booked into the Harris County Jail. He appeared in probable cause court on Thursday evening and was given a $10,000 bond.
Rosen urged parents to be aware of what their children are doing online.
“Be involved in your kids social media platforms, be engaged at where they’re going and what they’re doing. Because, yes, there was an investigator on the other side of this conversation, but it very well could have been a young girl,” he said.
The Harris County Pct. 1 Constable’s Office says Hoffpauir admitted to talking with other minors online and they believe there may be other victims. They are asking for anyone who may have had contact with him to reach out to them at 713-222-4929.