Accused of Child Molestation in Collin County?

An accusation that you molested or abused a child is its own emergency, separate from any charge that may follow. By the time you hear about it, the investigation is usually further along than you think: a report has been made, an interview may already be scheduled, and decisions are being made about you by people you have never met. What you do in the next few days matters more than anything you do later.

Kent Starr has defended these cases in Collin County since 1997, and he takes them throughout Texas. He is a solo lawyer. The consultation is free and confidential, he takes it himself, and you do not have to explain anything on the phone to schedule it. Call (214) 982-1408.

What to Do in the First 24 Hours

Do not give a statement to anyone. Not to police, not to CPS, not to the school, not to family members asking what happened. There is no version of "clearing this up" that happens through talking right now.

Do not contact the child, the family, or anyone connected to the accusation. Not to apologize, not to ask questions, not to defend yourself. Any contact can be read as interference and can become its own charge or a bond condition problem later.

Do not investigate the allegation yourself. Do not ask family members to question the child or gather statements, do not compare accounts with anyone else involved, and do not confront the person who made the report. Each of those feels like defending yourself, and each can be read as interference, whatever the intent.

Do not consent to any search of your phone, computer, home, or accounts. If investigators have a warrant, comply, keep the receipt, and do not delete anything anywhere; deleting can become a separate charge.

Stay off social media entirely. Do not post, do not vent, do not explain.

Write down what you know, for your lawyer only. Dates, places, who was present, what was said, and any history that matters. Memory degrades under stress, and that private timeline becomes the backbone of the defense.

What the Detective’s Call Really Means

At some point a detective may call and invite you to come in, “just to clear things up” or to “tell your side.” That call means the investigation has reached you. It is not a misunderstanding waiting for your explanation; it is an interview designed to lock in your account while you know the least about the evidence. Everything you say goes into the file the Collin County District Attorney reads when deciding what to charge.

The right answer is polite and short: you would like to speak with your attorney first. Detectives hear it every day. Then call one, because a lawyer can talk to the detective without any of it being your statement.

How These Investigations Work in Collin County

Most cases start with a report, to a teacher, a counselor, a doctor, a therapist, or directly to CPS or a police department. Two investigations usually open at once: a criminal one and a civil CPS case, and they share information.

When the allegation involves a child, investigators typically arrange a recorded forensic interview of the child at a children’s advocacy center, conducted by a trained interviewer while detectives and CPS observe. You will not be told it is happening, and you have no right to attend. That interview often becomes the State’s central evidence, which is why how it was conducted, what questions were asked, and what the child was exposed to beforehand get careful scrutiny from the defense.

If the District Attorney’s office decides to prosecute, the case is presented to a grand jury and, if indicted, heard in the district courts at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building in McKinney. Kent’s office is in McKinney, the county seat, and these are the courts where he works. The full walkthrough of the CPS track, the safety plan, and the forensic interview is on the CPS and police investigation page.

If You Are Told to Leave Your Home

Many of these investigations reach a point where someone asks or orders the accused to stay somewhere else. That can happen four different ways: an informal family arrangement, a CPS safety plan, an emergency protective order issued by a magistrate after an arrest, or a bond condition set by the court. They look similar from the outside and carry completely different rules, and a family-court order does not authorize anything that a protective order, a criminal-court order, or a bond condition prohibits.

Which one you are under controls what you can do, so do not return to the home, even briefly and even if invited, until a lawyer has told you exactly which restriction applies and what it allows. Returning in violation of a protective order, a criminal-court order, or a bond condition can lead to arrest. The CPS and police investigation page walks through each mechanism.

If You Are Calling About Someone Else

Often the first call comes from a wife or partner, or from parents calling about an adult son. That is welcome, and a family member can make the first call and help with fees and logistics. Two ground rules protect everyone: if Kent is retained, the client is the person facing the accusation, regardless of who pays; the client decides the direction of the defense, and paying the fees does not entitle a family member to what the client and Kent discuss. And before going into the facts, Kent checks for conflicts and sorts out whom he can represent, because in a family situation the people around a case can have interests of their own. It works best when the person accused takes part in the consultation directly.

What “Child Molestation” Means Under Texas Law

Texas statutes do not use the word molestation. An accusation usually maps to one or more of these charges:

Indecency with a child (Texas Penal Code §21.11): sexual contact with a child under 17 is a second-degree felony; exposure with intent to arouse is a third-degree felony. Conviction requires sex offender registration.

Sexual assault of a child (§22.011): a second-degree felony, 2 to 20 years, for penetration involving a person under 17 regardless of claimed agreement.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child (§22.021): a first-degree felony, 5 to 99 years or life, when the child is under 14. A 25-year minimum applies in the circumstances the statute lists: for offenses on or after September 1, 2025, a child under 10, or under 14 with an aggravating factor; conduct before that date falls under the earlier under-6 threshold.

Continuous sexual abuse of a child (§21.02): two or more alleged acts over 30 days or more against a child under 14. A first-degree felony, 25 to 99 years or life, served day for day with no parole eligibility.

The Collin County sex crimes defense page covers the full landscape of these charges, registration, and how Kent defends them.

Statutory Rape and Age of Consent Accusations

A separate group of cases involves teenagers and young adults. The age of consent in Texas is 17, and sexual contact with a person younger than 17 can be charged regardless of agreement. Texas recognizes a narrow close-in-age affirmative defense under §22.011(e), and its elements are specific: the accused was not more than three years older than the younger person, the younger person was at least 14, no force, threat, or duress was involved, and the accused had no prior reportable sex-offense conviction and was not subject to lifetime registration. These cases, often called statutory rape although Texas law does not use that term either, carry the same felony exposure and the same registration stakes, and the close-in-age defense has technical requirements that have to be proven, not assumed. If this is your situation, whether a teenager can be charged with statutory rape in Texas covers the details.

Defending a False or Mistaken Allegation

False and mistaken allegations happen. When an accusation surfaces in the middle of divorce or custody litigation, or amid family conflict, the timing and the influences around the account deserve careful, respectful review. That is not an attack on any child; children can genuinely misremember, misperceive, or be placed in the middle of an adult conflict they did not start.

Defending these cases is investigative work: who reported first and why then, what the forensic interview actually shows when reviewed against protocol, what the medical evidence does and does not support, what the digital record says about where people were and what was said. Where the facts warrant it, Kent works with forensic interview experts, medical experts, and digital examiners. The goal is to put the weaknesses of the case honestly in front of the prosecutor, the grand jury, and if necessary a jury.

Why People Wait, and Why You Should Not

Most people accused of something involving a child tell no one and hope it goes away. The shame is real, and it is exactly what makes these cases dangerous: while you wait, the interview happens, the file builds, and the charging decision gets made without you having any voice in it. Talking to a defense lawyer is not an admission of anything. The consultation is confidential, and it commits you to nothing.

Kent takes every consultation himself. It is free, it is confidential, and he will tell you honestly where you stand and what he would do next. Call (214) 982-1408.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is evaluated on its own facts.

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