Former Texas State Trooper Christian Estrada of Laredo was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to entice a person he believed was a minor to engage in sexual activity.
U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo handed down the sentence, which included lifetime supervised release after prison and registration as a sex offender.
The FBI conducted an undercover investigation of the former state trooper from April 2025 to December 2025.
An undercover FBI agent posed as someone with a twelve-year-old daughter. The agent communicated with user “dopehound” on Reddit, Snapchat, and Telegram.
According to ValleyCentral, “‘dopehound’ told the undercover FBI account that he previously had sex with a 13-year-old girl in a neighboring city.”
“Dopehound” allegedly expressed a desire to arrange a meeting with the fabricated 12-year-old for sexual activity. He repeatedly requested sexually explicit images of her and discussed sexual activity.
Christian Estrada confirmed in an interview that the ‘dopehound’ Telegram account was his.
In November 2025, Estrada allegedly began communicating directly with the 12-year-old on Snapchat. The 12-year-old’s account also belonged to the FBI. In their conversation, he asked for sexually explicit images.
During this time, he was a state trooper employed by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
When authorities conducted a search warrant at Estrada’s home on January 8, they seized his phone. The phone revealed that his Snapchat had multiple chats with users listed ages 14 and 15. Estrada was suspended the day of the search.
Estrada pleaded guilty on April 8. He now faces 10 years in federal prison and will spend the rest of his life on supervised release.
“Protecting minors from the depraved schemes of online sexual predators is a top priority for the Southern District of Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Aaron F. Reitz. “If somebody takes to the internet to prey on children, they are going to find their world turned upside down by this office. I will pursue these online predators to the ends of the internet in order to protect our kids and keep perverts away from them.”
The FBI and TDPS conducted the investigation as a part of Project Safe Childhood.
