TEXARKANA, Texas–A Texas appellate court on Friday declined to grant a new
trial to a Texarkana man who was the first defendant convicted of child
grooming in the Lone Star State under a new law enacted in 2023.
In February last year, a Bowie County jury found Matthew Lynn Riddle, 37,
guilty of two counts of sexual grooming of a child and a single count of
online solicitation of a minor. He received a maximum 20-year term for
online solicitation and two maximum 10-year terms on each of the two counts
of child grooming, along with maximum $10,000 fines on each count. The
Sixth District Court of Appeals said Friday that the jury’s decision should
stand.
Riddle sent hundreds of sexually oriented messages to female teen athletes
while acting as their batting coach. Riddle had access to his victims
through his wife’s former job as an area high school softball coach.
Kelley Crisp, First Assistant District Attorney for Bowie County, said
Friday that the “decision to affirm Riddle’s convictions and sentences
reinforces what the jury decided and what law enforcement has believed from
the beginning–that this law matters.”
“Grooming a child is now criminalized conduct in Texas and this law aims to
stop child abuse,” Crisp said. “By allowing law enforcement to intervene
when a predator is manipulating a child, anyone building trust or
connection with a child for the purpose of later facilitating sexual abuse,
can be held accountable.”
Crisp said the new law is a win in the battle to protect children from
sexual abuse.
“The District Attorney’s Office, along with the Texarkana Texas Police
Department and the Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center, is proud to have
been the first in the state to lead the charge by aggressively prosecuting
preparatory behaviors designed to lead to abuse of a child or children,”
Crisp said.
The appellate court found Riddle’s argument that the child grooming statute
is unconstitutional unpersuasive, saying that it agreed with the state that
he failed to “adequately brief” the issue. Riddle also argued that the
child grooming and online solicitation statutes couldn’t be applied
simultaneously, but the appellate court was unconvinced.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony about how Riddle would message
girls constantly and become upset if they didn’t immediately reply – even
when they were in class. Riddle sent invitations to come to his home while
he was showering and to watch movies, according to court records.
Riddle’s text messages to the girls often referenced their underwear, their
buttocks, their choice of clothing and at times included sexually oriented
videos, records show. Riddle was found to have specifically used the
internet to solicit a sexual encounter with one of the teen victims.
Riddle is currently being held in the Beto Unit of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice in Tennessee Colony.