Muhammad Faizan Ansari v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 2023
Docket02-22-00170-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Muhammad Faizan Ansari v. the State of Texas (Muhammad Faizan Ansari v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Muhammad Faizan Ansari v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-22-00170-CR ___________________________

MUHAMMAD FAIZAN ANSARI, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 372nd District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1629392R

Before Birdwell and Bassel, JJ.; and Lee Gabriel (Senior Justice, Retired, Sitting by Assignment) Memorandum Opinion by Justice Gabriel MEMORANDUM OPINION

A jury convicted Muhammad Faizan Ansari of two counts of online solicitation

of a minor. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 33.021(f). The trial court assessed his

punishment at ten years’ confinement on each count, suspended the sentences, and

placed him on community supervision for ten years. See id. § 12.33. The trial court

also assessed a fine of $2,000 on count one. Payment of the fine was not suspended.

In his first point, Ansari contends that the electronic messages allegedly sent between

him and the fictitious child victim were not properly authenticated and were thus

improperly admitted. In his second point, Ansari seems to argue that if the messages

had not been admitted, the evidence would have been insufficient to support his

conviction. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2018, Detective William Maddox worked in the internet crimes unit of the

Fort Worth Police Department. He exclusively investigated crimes involving child

victims by focusing on offenses that had an internet or technological component to

them. He described his specialized training for the job:

I have training on . . . understanding how the internet works, what an IP address is, the different platforms that are used for online communication[,] and how they relate to crimes against children; training on engaging in undercover chat operations where we will pose as somebody else online and look for offenders online; training in peer-to- peer file-sharing networks where users are sending files to each other via the internet; and other training related to how technology is used to engage in crimes against children.

2 He furthered explained that an IP address means an Internet Protocol, which

he analogized to the physical address of a house. “[T]o engage in communication

online, you have to report what your address is to whatever the source online is that

you’re looking at so that they know who you are, where you are[,] and how to send

information back to you.”

Maddox explained that he also received specialized training in undercover

investigations that would target online-solicitation-of-a-minor and child-pornography

cases. He detailed how he developed a persona where he posed as a thirteen-year-old

girl. He also explained how his unit had a limited amount of photographs of real

children that were donated for use in these types of investigations. These

photographs were not sexual in any way. Maddox testified that he conducted

operations targeting online solicitors by posting an ad on a platform that children

commonly use, which then remained idle until somebody responded.

Maddox testified that on March 13, 2018, he posted an ad on Craigslist, a

classified-ads website, using the name “Emily”—the thirteen-year-old-girl persona

Maddox used—that stated, “Contact information: Young and needing something to

do, W4M.[1] Mom is out of town and friends went on trips for spring break. I’m

boooooooored.” The first response to the ad came in within twenty minutes from a

Craigslist anonymized email address with a username of “Faizan.” The response

1 He explained that “W4M” means “Woman for Man.”

3 arrived in the inbox of an email account that Maddox created and linked to the ad.

“Faizan” and “Emily” then communicated by emails that only they could see.

In the very first email “Faizan” sent to “Emily,” he asked if she was alone and

offered to come and “give [her] company.” In her very first reply, “Emily” asked

“Faizan” if it was okay that she was only thirteen years old. “Faizan” responded,

“Yeah. . . . I was looking for someone like you.” “Faizan” sent “Emily” a picture of

himself. He described himself as twenty-five, 5′8″, and athletic. He asked “Emily” to

send him multiple pictures of her, and Maddox sent the pictures. In the exchange,

“Emily” asked “Faizan” what he wanted to do. “Faizan” responded, “Well, [w]e can

make out and [c]uddle and see where it goes.” “Emily” followed up by asking him

where he thought it would go. “Faizan” replied,

It will definately [sic] go far lol. . . . I’ll have [y]ou sit on my lap. We can start with a long kiss [a]nd making out while feeling each other[’s] bodies. I’ll start going down on you kissing all over then might lick it if you like . . . and then . . [.] a lot more.

“Emily” then told “Faizan” that she had never done the acts he was describing

before, and he responded that he would show her when they met. He said he was

available to meet her that day.

Maddox testified that “Emily” and “Faizan” exchanged approximately twenty

emails before they decided it would be faster to switch to a different platform to

4 communicate. After exchanging usernames for Kik2—the platform that they chose—

they continued to exchange messages and pictures for “most of an afternoon and

evening.” Maddox testified that he was the author of all of “Emily’s”

communications. He described that during the communications, “Faizan” solicited

thirteen-year-old “Emily” to engage in sexual contact and sexual intercourse.

“Faizan” also communicated in a sexually explicit manner.

In his last email sent through Craigslist, “Faizan” told “Emily” that his Kik

username was “faiz1208.” “[F]aiz1208” then contacted “Emily” on the Kik username

she provided to him. The message received by “Emily” showed a username of

“faiz1208” and a name of “M Faizan.” After switching to the Kik platform,

“faiz1208’s” profile picture was the same picture he had previously sent by email to

“Emily.” In the Kik messages, “Emily” told “faiz1208” that she was in 7th grade.

She explained that she was nervous about what they were going to do and needed to

know what to expect. “[F]aiz1208” explained in more detail what he would do and

then asked, “Do you want intercourse?” When “Emily” expressed concern about

getting pregnant, “faiz1208” explained that he would use a condom and exactly how

condoms work. He concluded that discussion by stating, “You will be safe.”

After the two had discussed the progression of sexual acts they could engage in

when they met, they discussed where to meet. After “faiz1208” told “Emily” that he

According to Maddox, “Kik is a mobile app that is used for texting 2

communication, . . . and it also has capabilities for phone and video calls.”

5 lived in Dallas, they decided to meet at a park in Hurst. But immediately after

discussing the meeting location and where they could go from there, “faiz1208”

asked, “One last thing. Just to make sure you’re real. Can we video chat[?] Or just

send me video [of] you saying hello.” Maddox could not send a video and tried to

make excuses for not being able to do so. When “Emily” could not provide what he

requested, “faiz1208” responded, “I can’t trust you then. It’s important.” When

“Emily” stated that she felt like she could trust him, he replied, “But I’m the one who

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Muhammad Faizan Ansari v. the State of Texas, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/muhammad-faizan-ansari-v-the-state-of-texas-texapp-2023.