Police chief being investigated for online solicitation of minor
A police chief in Ellis County is being investigated for online solicitation of a minor, and he's accused of trying to cover it up.
Maypearl Police Chief Kevin Coffey has not been arrested, but a search warrant affidavit says he's under investigation for trying to solicit sex from a 14-year-old girl who is now 16.
The affidavit says Coffey sent her inappropriate text messages and that the 49-year-old first messaged the girl on Facebook.
Coffey has been put on paid leave, and his home and the Maypearl Police Department were both searched.
The Texas rangers and the attorney general's child exploitation unit are handling the investigation.
In Grandview on Saturday morning, Jesse Williams watched as law enforcement approached the door of Coffey, his neighbor.
“…and not just show up like a friendly knock, but they have a battering ram with them as if they were going to have a problem,” said Williams. “Kinda makes you worry a little bit.”
The battering ram wasn’t used, and the search warrant affidavits show investigators were after computers, a digital camera and phones at Chief Coffey's home, along with more computers, thumb drives and a body camera at his office in Maypearl.
A Texas Ranger heading the investigation writes in the affidavits that a 16 year old girl reports that Chief Coffey would pull her over, flash his lights at the window of her home and Facebook message her with comments of a sexual nature.
The Texas Ranger found Facebook messages that corroborated the girl's outcry, including one from Coffey’s Facebook account that says, "I’ll cuff u and put u on the hood again and smack that [expletive] LOL."
Another message that included a photo of a remote location and the words "Had a nice spot picked out to stop you and everything. LOL”
Maypearl’s mayor confirmed the chief is on paid administrative leave but had little else to say at Monday night’s regular council meeting, where Coffey was scheduled to give an emergency management update.
There was no answer at the door of Coffey’s home when FOX 4 knocked on Monday night.