Sex Crimes Defense in McKinney & Collin County

If you are on this page, something has probably already happened. A detective left a card. An accusation surfaced. Someone was arrested, or a phone left the house in an evidence bag. Whatever brought you here, one thing matters right now: you do not owe anyone an explanation today except your own lawyer.

Kent Starr has defended sex crime cases in Collin County and across North Texas since 1997, and he takes sex-crime cases throughout Texas; if your case is in another county, the first call works the same way. He is a solo lawyer, so the person you meet at the consultation is the person who reads the discovery, argues the motions, and tries the case if it comes to that. The consultation is free and confidential, and Kent takes it himself. Call (214) 982-1408. You do not have to explain anything on the phone to get on his calendar.

Start Where You Are

Sex crime cases arrive in different ways, and the right first move depends on where you are standing:

• A detective called and wants your side of the story. Do not give a statement. How these cases actually start explains what that call means.
• CPS contacted you, a forensic interview happened, or you were asked to leave your home. Two investigations are already moving: what a CPS or police investigation means in Collin County.
• You are accused of something involving a child, but not charged. The pre-charge window is where the most protective work happens: accused of child molestation in Collin County.
• An adult has accused you of sexual assault. Consent cases turn on evidence most people fail to preserve: accused of sexual assault in Collin County.
• You were arrested in a sting. If the sting involved someone posing as a minor, start with online solicitation of a minor; for an adult prostitution sting, what happens after a solicitation arrest.
• Police took your phone or computer. Do not consent to more, and do not delete anything: devices and search warrants.
• Someone is in jail right now. Magistration and bond come first: the first 48 hours.
• You know the exact charge and want to know what it carries. The offense pages go statute by statute: indecency with a child, child pornography, and sexual assault of a child.

How a Sex Crime Case Actually Starts in Collin County

These cases rarely begin with handcuffs. They begin with a report to a school counselor, a therapist, a pediatrician, CPS, or a police department. What follows is a process most families never see coming.

When the allegation involves a child, investigators usually arrange a recorded interview with the child at a children’s advocacy center, conducted by a trained forensic interviewer while detectives and CPS watch from another room. You are not notified, and you have no right to be there. CPS may open a civil case alongside the criminal investigation, and the two share information. If CPS asks you to sign a safety plan or sit for an interview, talk to a lawyer first; those records reach the criminal file. The CPS and police investigation page walks through the safety plan, the forensic interview, and being asked to leave the home.

Then comes the phone call. A detective invites you to come in and clear things up, or asks for your side of the story. That call means the investigation has reached you, and it is not an offer to fix a misunderstanding. Everything you say goes into the file the District Attorney reads when deciding what to charge. The right response is short and polite: you would like to speak with your lawyer first. Then make it true.

Sex crime charges in Texas are almost all felonies, and how a Collin County case moves through the courts is covered in its own section below. Kent’s office is in McKinney, and the county courthouse is where he works.

The First 48 Hours After an Arrest

After booking at the Collin County Detention Facility, a magistrate reviews the arrest and sets bond, usually within 24 to 48 hours. Bond runs higher on sex offense charges than on other felonies, and conditions commonly include no contact with the complaining witness, electronic monitoring, and limits on where you can live or who you can be around.

Two rules protect you immediately. First, the no-contact condition means no contact of any kind: no calls, no texts, no messages passed through friends, no apologies. Contact can be charged as a new offense and can revoke the bond. Second, jail phone calls are recorded, and those recordings are used in court. Do not discuss the case on a jail phone. One call can get the bond process and the defense moving together.

Phones, Computers, and Search Warrants

Many of these investigations turn on digital evidence. If officers ask to look at your phone, computer, or accounts, the answer is a polite no unless they have a warrant. If they took devices with a warrant, do not try to delete anything on the devices or accounts they left behind; destroying potential evidence can become its own charge. Keep the property receipt and write down what was taken. Whether the warrant and the search hold up is often the central fight, and forensic review of metadata, shared devices, and account access frequently tells a different story than the State’s first version. If this is your situation, the device seizure walkthrough covers the first steps in more detail.

The Charges and What They Carry

Texas sex offenses live mainly in Chapters 21, 22, and 43 of the Penal Code. The short version, in plain English:

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. Registration is required on conviction.

Sexual assault (§22.011): intentional or knowing penetration without consent, or with a person under 17 regardless of agreement. A second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years. When the complainant is a child, the charge, the aggravated version, and continuous abuse are covered together on the sexual assault of a child page.

Aggravated sexual assault (§22.021): a first-degree felony, 5 to 99 years or life, when the complainant is under 14, a deadly weapon is used, serious bodily injury results, or other aggravating facts apply. The minimum rises to 25 years when the child is under 10, or under 14 with an aggravating factor; Texas raised that age threshold from 6 to 10 effective September 1, 2025 (HB 1422), and the under-6 rule still governs offenses from before that date.

Continuous sexual abuse of a child (§21.02): two or more acts of sexual abuse 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.

Prohibited sexual conduct (§25.02): sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with a relative the statute lists, including a current or former stepchild or stepparent. A third-degree felony, and a second-degree felony when the relative is an ancestor or descendant. It is also the relationship that turns sexual assault of a child into a first-degree felony under §22.011(f). Kent’s post on a Princeton life sentence for prohibited sexual conduct covers how the enhancements work.

Online solicitation of a minor (§33.021): a third-degree felony for sexually explicit communication with a minor, a second-degree felony for soliciting a meeting. Sting cases with no real minor are charged under this statute.

Possession or promotion of child sexual abuse material (§43.26): overhauled effective September 1, 2025 to treat material depicting a real child and AI- or computer-generated material as separate offenses. Possession ranges from a state jail felony to a first-degree felony depending on image count, the age depicted, and priors; promotion is punished more harshly. Registration is required.

Indecent exposure (§21.08): a Class B misdemeanor, Class A with a prior, and a state jail felony with two priors. A single conviction does not require registration; a second one does.

Failure to register as a sex offender (Code of Criminal Procedure §62.102): a separate felony whose degree tracks the underlying registration duty.

The age of consent in Texas is 17. Sexual contact with a person younger than 17 can be charged regardless of agreement, subject to the narrow close-in-age affirmative defense in §22.011(e). If the allegation against you turns on age, the age of consent guide and the firm’s page on accusations involving children cover how these cases are charged and defended.

Registration Is the Fight Behind the Fight

For many clients the most permanent consequence of a conviction is not the sentence; it is Chapter 62 registration, for ten years or for life, public, searchable, and attached to where you can live, work, and travel. Registration follows a reportable conviction or adjudication, and in Texas that includes deferred adjudication for most sex offenses, not a mere accusation. Avoiding a reportable disposition is the real fight, and it is the plainest reason to contest the charge at every stage.

How Kent Defends These Cases

Sex crime prosecutions are usually built on testimony and digital evidence rather than physical proof, and each of those can be tested.

Where the account came from. Kent examines who reported, when, to whom, and what records exist around that sequence, the same way he examines every other piece of the State’s evidence. That is investigative work done without attacking a child, and the surrounding records deserve careful review. Kent investigates who said what first, to whom, and what pressures surrounded it.

The forensic interview. Child advocacy center interviews follow protocols designed to prevent suggestion. When the protocols are not followed, a forensic interview expert can show where leading questions and contamination entered the account.

The digital record. Metadata, shared devices, account access, and chain of custody often say more than the messages themselves. Kent works with forensic examiners on authenticity and attribution.

Consent. In adult cases, prior communications, the surrounding circumstances, and consistency between the account and the physical evidence are where these cases are often decided. The firm’s sexual assault accusation page walks through that defense in detail.

Kent has practiced criminal defense since 1997, studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, and clerked for two supreme courts. These cases reward early, careful work and honest conversations with the client, even when the honest answer is hard to hear. That is how he handles them.

The consultation is free and confidential. Payment plans and credit cards accepted.

Courts & Counties We Serve for Sex Crime Cases

Kent Starr defends sex crime cases throughout Texas. His office is in McKinney, and the Collin County courts are where most of his work happens, but he takes these cases wherever they are filed: the North Texas counties he appears in every week, and counties farther away when the case calls for it. He also handles federal sex crime cases in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas, including federal child pornography charges.

How a Sex Crime Case Moves Through the Collin County Courts

Most felony sex cases that proceed to prosecution in Collin County are presented by the district attorney’s office to a grand jury, which decides whether to indict. Indicted cases are heard in the district courts at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building, 2100 Bloomdale Road in McKinney, the county seat. The period before indictment, which can begin before any arrest, is often where a defense lawyer has the most room to work, and the grand jury stage matters more than most people expect.

Many of these cases begin before any arrest: a detective’s card at the door, or a call from CPS. If that is where you are, the investigation stage is the time to get counsel, not after charges are filed. For how the county’s courts fit together more generally, see criminal defense in Collin County.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sex Crimes in Texas

I have been contacted by a detective about an allegation. Should I talk to them?

No. You have the constitutional right to remain silent, and you should use it. A detective reaching out to “just talk” or “get your side of the story” is conducting an investigation. Anything you say can be used against you. Politely decline and call an attorney immediately. You are not required to provide a statement, answer questions, or agree to any interview.

What happens if I am placed on the sex offender registry?

Sex offender registration in Texas is a public record. It requires you to register with local law enforcement, limits where you can live (particularly near schools and parks), and must be updated whenever you move. Failure to register is itself a criminal offense. Some convictions require lifetime registration; others allow petition for removal after a waiting period. Kent discusses the registration implications of any plea or conviction honestly with every client.

Can sex crime charges be dismissed before trial?

Yes, charges are dismissed in sex crime cases when evidence is insufficient, when suppression motions succeed, when material statements cannot be corroborated, or when further investigation puts reasonable doubt squarely in front of the prosecutor. Dismissal is not automatic and is not guaranteed by any attorney, but thorough pre-trial investigation and aggressive motion practice are the work that puts the question of dismissal honestly before the prosecutor and the court.

I was accused by a child. Can I still be acquitted?

Yes. The presumption of innocence applies in every case, and the State must prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt. Kent’s defense in child sex crime cases works through thorough pretrial investigation, work with expert witnesses where the facts warrant it, and rigorous cross-examination to test the State’s evidence.

What is the statute of limitations for sex crimes in Texas?

Texas has no statute of limitations for many sex crimes involving children. For sexual assault of an adult, the statute of limitations has also been extended in recent years. The elimination of filing deadlines means old allegations can surface at any time. An experienced attorney can still challenge these cases on the grounds of faded memories, missing witnesses, and degraded evidence, even if the conduct is legally timely.

The police took my phone or computer. What should I do?

Do not consent to any further searches, and do not try to delete anything; destroying potential evidence can become a separate charge. Ask for the property receipt, write down what was taken and by whom, and call a defense lawyer before answering any questions. Whether the seizure and the warrant were lawful often becomes the central battleground in these cases.

Can I get a bond on a sex crime charge in Collin County?

Most sex offense charges in Texas are bondable. Amounts run higher than for other felonies, and conditions commonly include no-contact orders and electronic monitoring. A magistrate sets the initial bond shortly after arrest. An attorney can ask the court to reduce the amount and to modify conditions that make work or family obligations impossible while the case is pending.

How We Serve Collin County for Sex Crime Cases

McKinney Sex Crime Defense

Kent represents sex crime clients from McKinney, and their Collin County cases are heard in the district courts in McKinney, the county seat.

Plano Sex Crime Defense

Kent represents sex crime clients from Plano; their Collin County cases are heard in the district courts in McKinney.

Frisco Sex Crime Defense

Kent represents sex crime clients from Frisco; their Collin County cases are heard in the district courts in McKinney, and cases arising in the Denton County portion of Frisco can be filed in Denton County.

Allen Sex Crime Defense

Kent represents sex crime clients from Allen, and their Collin County cases are heard in the district courts in McKinney.

If You Are Calling About Someone Else

Often the first call comes from a parent, a spouse, or a partner rather than the person accused. That is welcome. A family member can make the first call, help with fees and logistics, and sit in where it is appropriate. If Kent is retained, the client is the person accused, regardless of who pays. And before going into details, tell the office your relationship to the person accused, because in a family-violence or child case the person calling is sometimes also the person the State considers a witness, and that changes what should be discussed on the phone.

Call Kent Starr Today, Free, Confidential Consultation

If you or someone you love is facing a sex crime allegation in McKinney, Plano, anywhere in North Texas, or anywhere in Texas, every hour matters. Call (214) 982-1408 for a free, confidential consultation. Kent takes the consultation himself. Se habla español. Nós falamos português. Lea sobre la defensa de delitos sexuales en español.

Sex crime allegations from across Collin County are heard in the district courts in McKinney. Starr Law's Collin County overview explains the county's courts and the path a felony case follows there.