A former Texas police officer, Daniel Joseph Bates, has been sentenced to three consecutive life terms after being convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material and attempting to solicit a minor online. The former Itasca Police Department reservist was caught after a civilian anti-predator content creator alerted authorities to his messages with someone Bates believed to be a 15-year-old girl, prompting Texas Rangers to launch an investigation. The case is notable both for the scale of material involved and for Bates's attempts to use his position as a police officer to evade suspicion and, later, prosecution.

A search of Bates's devices uncovered more than 300 images and videos of children being sexually abused, according to Johnson and Somerville Counties' District Attorney Timothy Good. Bates, who was working highway construction security at the time of his arrest, claimed the material was part of a covert investigation into human traffickers, but prosecutors said he could not substantiate this. He was convicted on Wednesday of possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor, receiving three consecutive life sentences plus a further 40 years for the solicitation charge.