{"id":195166,"date":"2026-03-07T22:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/195166\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T22:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:54:07","slug":"man-arrested-after-travelling-from-houston-to-solicit-minor-in-east-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/195166\/","title":{"rendered":"Man arrested after travelling from Houston to solicit minor in East Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

GROVETON, Texas (KETK<\/a>) \u2013 A man was arrested on Saturday morning after he was found in a vehicle with a minor near the Dollar Store in Groveton, according to the Trinity County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Nacogdoches County fugitive arrested after yearslong search <\/a><\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office shared that a deputy was doing his routine patrol at around 4 a.m. on Saturday when he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked behind the Dollar Store in Groveton.<\/p>\n

The deputy contacted the people inside the vehicle but could tell something was \u201cnot right\u201d about the situation. According to the sheriff\u2019s office, a 20-year-old man and a local minor were inside the vehicle behind the Dollar Store.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office said they learned through an investigation that Oscar Venegas Torres, 20, had arranged online to meet with the local minor in person. Torres allegedly travelled from Houston to meet the minor in Groveton.<\/p>\n

Torres was arrested and booked into the Trinity County Jail for online solicitation of a minor, according to Trinity County Jail records. The sheriff\u2019s office added that they learned Torres is not a legal resident of the United States.<\/p>\n

Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said that more charges may be filed against Torres in this case and he urged parents to consider to the following suggestions:<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow who your children are communicating with online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMonitor social media and gaming platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow where your kids are going and who they are meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk openly with your children about the dangers of meeting strangers from the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internet allows our kids to connect with friends and the world, but it also gives predators the ability to reach into our homes,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cMany predators use social media, gaming platforms, and messaging apps pretending to be someone younger or someone they are not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace also asked anyone with information about this case to contact the sheriff\u2019s office at 936-642-1424.<\/p>\n

You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24\/7 on your smart TV\u00a0with\u00a0KETK+<\/a>,\u00a0our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite needed\u2014watch for free, anytime.\u00a0Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GROVETON, Texas (KETK) \u2013 A man was arrested on Saturday morning after he was found in a vehicle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47504,77354,77353,27,29,28,77352,77355],"class_list":["post-195166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-dollar-store","tag-groveton","tag-oscar-venegas-torres","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-trinity-county-jail","tag-trinity-county-sheriff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}