A 40-year-old San Angelo man who believed he was talking to a 14-year-old girl online last December has been sentenced to three years in prison following a plea deal with the state on Monday.
Court records indicate that Stephen Paul Marburger sent sexually explicit messages to an agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety describing the illicit things he’d like to do when they met, believing that the agent was really a teenage girl. Marburger later confessed that he was planning on picking the teen up and taking her out to the lake for sex.
On Dec. 13, 2014, DPS agents arrested Marburger for online solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
On Monday, Nov. 2, Marburger pled guilty to the charge before 119th District Judge Ben Woodward. In exchange for the guilty plea, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Marburger was represented by defense attorney Randy Stout. Assistant District Attorney Jason Ferguson prosecuted the case.
"As the internet becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, our children are increasingly at risk to sexual predators," Ferguson said. "Due to the efforts of DPS criminal investigation division and other local officers, this makes the third defendant out of this investigation that we were able to identify, arrest, and get off the street. When the Defendant is released from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender."
Others arrested during this sting that have been sentenced include Dakota Flores, who was sentenced to five years in prison for online solicitation of a minor and failure to appear; David Garcia, who pled to four years' confinement for online solicitation, and David Kiser, who is awaiting sentencing on his Sept. 17 guilty plea.
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