{"id":331457,"date":"2026-06-11T01:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T01:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331457\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T01:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T01:18:11","slug":"former-west-texas-city-manager-convicted-after-arranging-hotel-meeting-with-officer-posing-as-teens-prosecutors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331457\/","title":{"rendered":"Former West Texas city manager convicted after arranging hotel meeting with officer posing as teens, prosecutors say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/tag\/crime\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">undercover child\u2011predator sting<\/a> led to the conviction of a former West Texas city manager after authorities say he tried to meet two minors for sex following an online exchange with an officer posing as teens, prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A federal jury in Abilene convicted ex\u2011Anson City Manager Ervin Joe Campbell, 64, of attempted enticement of a minor after a one\u2011day trial this week, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Northern District of Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The jury deliberated only 30 minutes before returning a guilty verdict, according to prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anson, a town of about 2,500, is 23 miles north of Abilene and roughly 170 miles west of Fort Worth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The unfortunate and sad reality is that predators lurk in every facet of life, including those in positions of trust, like this defendant,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Officer posed as two teens<\/p>\n<p>A Texas Attorney General&#8217;s Office sergeant posed as 15\u2011 and 16\u2011year\u2011old minors using a Facebook Marketplace ad titled &#8220;Massage and Fun,&#8221; the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Campbell responded to the ad and agreed to meet the minors for sex, despite being told their ages, according to evidence presented at trial.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence shows planned meeting<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say cell phone geolocation and call records showed Campbell left his home in Anson and drove about 30 minutes to an Abilene hotel to meet the minors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He arrived with two condoms and more than $500 in cash, agreeing to pay $500 for sex, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Agents also found Campbell had saved the supposed 15\u2011year\u2011old&#8217;s contact in his phone under the name &#8220;15,&#8221; prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Sentencing set for September<\/p>\n<p>Campbell is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 17 before U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, where he faces 10 years to life in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, the Texas Department of Public Safety&#8217;s Criminal Investigations Division, the Texas Attorney General&#8217;s Office, and the Abilene Police Department.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An undercover child\u2011predator sting led to the conviction of a former West Texas city manager after authorities say&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,430,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-331457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-crime","tag-north-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331457","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=331457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}