Hurst Man Gets 30 Years In Child Porn Case

It remains one of the creepiest instances of child exploitation North Texas has ever seen, and now a court has sentenced Randy Ray Wesson to 30 years in federal prison for committing it.

Sometime in January 2014, Wesson met Ricardo Lugo, 17, on Instagram. Wesson lived in Hurst. Lugo lived in Mexico. The two struck up a relationship and, in February 2014, Wesson drove to El Paso, watched Lugo walk across the border from Juarez and picked him up. Wesson told police that he and Lugo struck up a sexual relationship, and the two began posing as father and son.

Wesson enrolled Lugo at Hurst Hills Elementary School in August, telling the school that his "son" was 12 and proving it with a forged Ohio birth certificate.  "There was no indication that the student's records were forged or that the student was too old to attend elementary school. The student's behavior at school also did not raise any concerns," Hurst ISD said in a statement.

On Instagram, Lugo presented himself as a normal kid. He was 11, about to be 12, he said, and was just looking for friends. He posed in Cars pajamas and joked about going through puberty while he was recruiting and luring kids at Hurst Hills into participating in child pornography. Video found on Lugo's phone after his arrest showed him spanking a child. Investigators also found explicit text messages between Wesson and Lugo.
When Wesson was arrested in November 2014, officials still believed Lugo was 12 and placed him in the custody of Child Protective Services. He was arrested about a week later, when it was discovered he was 17.

Lugo got 20 years in prison for groping a third-grader, along with 10 years of deferred adjudication probation for possession with intent to distribute of child pornography in November. If he screws up his probation, he would be subject to as many as 130 years in jail.