HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The owner of a Kemah landscaping business has been arrested after he allegedly solicited an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl for sex.

Lance Anthony Hoffpauir, 42, is charged with online solicitation of a minor. He was arrested on Thursday by the Harris County Pct. 1 Constable’s Office.

The arrest comes following a two-month long investigation, according to authorities.

Court documents indicate Hoffpauir is the owner of Hoff Landscaping out of Kemah.

According to the documents, on Dec. 21, 2024, an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl received a private message from an unknown man on an undisclosed social media application.

The man, later identified as Hoffpauir, sent a message saying “Hi, you there? Send a pic of you. Old enough to be your dad,” according to the court records.

Hoffpauir told the undercover officer he was 42 years old and asked her to send a picture of herself. Pictures were exchanged between the undercover officer and Hoffpauir.

“Wow, you talk to a lot of older guys? You met any guys in person?” Hoffpauir asked, according to the court records.

The conversations became sexual with Hoffpauir allegedly asking the officer if she wanted to meet with him for sex.

On Jan. 3, detectives were able to positively identify Hoffpauir by running the photo of himself he sent to the officer through an AI tool. Facial recognition technology was able to find a previous mugshot of Hoffpauir from the Galveston County Jail as well as match his face to the profile picture on an Instagram profile.

According to the court records, Hoffpauir sent approximately 30 sexually explicit photos to the undercover officer. In the messages, Hoffpauir indicated he believed the undercover officer was a teenage girl with questions asked such as, “How’s school?” and, “Do your parents come out when they pick you up?” He also allegedly referred to the undercover officer as “My little teen princess.” and, “My teen girlfriend.”

During a later discussion where Hoffpauir allegedly asked the undercover officer to meet, he asked questions like, “I’m not going to get in trouble if we do? I’m not going to get ambushed by 60 mins?”

The court documents say Hoffpauir explained he was talking about the TV show 60 Minutes.

“They have a segment. Catch a predator. Which I’m not,” Hoffpauir allegedly said according to the court documents.

Harris County Pct. 1 Constable Alan Rosen says Hoffpauir also told them he has been a junior-high history teacher and a church youth volunteer in the past.

Rosen says Hoffpauir was booked into the Harris County Jail. No bond has been set at this time.