TEXARKANA, Texas–A man who was convicted of exposing himself to a 3-year-old more than two decades ago was arrested last week for possession of child pornography in Bowie County.
Patrick Shane Stacks, 52, was assessed a 10-year probation and ordered to register as a sex offender in 2000 after pleading guilty to indecency with a child by exposure in Bowie County, according to court records. He was arrested Thursday by members of the Texas Department of Public Safety for possession of child pornography.
An investigation into Stacks’ online activity began in April 2021 when investigators determined Stacks was using the Wickr.me application and had been talking about molesting a young girl in an online chat. As a registered sex offender, Stacks was required to report all online profiles to law enforcement.
While investigators were unable to immediately gain access to the contents of Stacks’ cell phone, they did charge him with violating his sex offender registration requirements. Bowie County records show he was jailed from April 2021 to September 2021 when he pled guilty and was placed on a 10-year probation.
Meanwhile, investigators sought the assistance of the U.S. Secret Service to get into the phone they had seized from Stacks in April 2021 and in January, DPS investigators were provided with the data. More than 100 images of child pornography were allegedly found.
Stacks had served eight years of his original 10-year probation when officers conducting a home visit in April 2008 discovered a number of DVDs which contained adult pornography. It was a violation of probation for Stacks to possess such material. Stacks’ probation was revoked in June 2008 and he was sentenced to eight years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Records indicate he was released from prison in March 2015.
Stacks is currently still on probation for violating his sex offender registration requirements in 2021 by failing to disclose an online profile. Because the possession of child pornography occurred at the same time, it is unlikely his probation could be revoked based on his recent arrest.
Stacks is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $100,000. If found guilty of possessing child pornography, he faces two to ten years in prison.
