Conroe Man Pleads Gulty to Child Sex Crimes

HOUSTON, April 8, 2008 – A former financial advisor today pleaded guilty to using the Internet to prey on children. According to investigators with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Cyber Crimes Unit, Christopher R. Kronshagen, 39, of Conroe, planned to meet and sexually assault someone he thought was a child.

Kronshagen pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual performance by a child, a third-degree felony, and one count of criminal solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. According to investigators, Kronshagen used the Internet to sexually proposition an undercover Cyber Crimes Unit investigator who had assumed the identity of an underage female. Kronshagen will be sentenced next month and faces up to 20 years in prison.

“This defendant is charged with using the Internet to prey upon children,” Attorney General Abbott said. “Parents and children must remain vigilant and remember that dangerous sex predators rely upon the Internet to meet and communicate with kids. We are grateful to the Sugar Land Police Department and Fort Bend County District Attorney John F. Healey, Jr. for assisting our Cyber Crimes Unit with this case.”

Cyber Crimes Unit investigators arrested Kronshagen in May 2006 when he arrived at a Sugar Land gas station to meet and sexually assault the child he met online. At the time of his arrest, Kronshagen indicated he was employed as a financial advisor for an investment corporation. Assistant Attorney General Sarah Wannarka prosecuted the case in conjunction with the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office.

Attorney General Abbott has earned a national reputation for aggressively arresting and prosecuting child predators. Since 2003, the Cyber Crimes Unit and Fugitive Unit have arrested more than 600 sex predators. Prosecutors also have obtained convictions against more than 70 men on child pornography charges.

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