Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man was sentenced in a federal court to 151 months in federal prison and 20 years of supervised release for attempted online enticement and coercion of a minor.
According to court documents, between June and August of 2023, Stephen Eugene Hall, 41, communicated with two undercover law enforcement agents whom he believed to be 12- and 14-year-old girls. Throughout their conversations over the Kik app, Hall attempted to entice them to engage in sexual activity and to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Hall was arrested by FBI agents on Aug. 23, 2023, when he traveled to a hotel in San Antonio with the intent to engage in sex with the individual whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 10, 2025, to two counts of attempted online enticement and coercion of a minor and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez.
“These proactive law enforcement operations, using the social media apps many children use today, are vital and necessary in order to catch child predators before they can cause their irreparable intended harm,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “Thanks to the work of our FBI partners in Boston and in San Antonio, we were able to put another child predator in federal prison for over a decade, with another 20 years of supervised release to follow.”
“This sentencing sends a clear message that neither the FBI, our law enforcement partners, nor the American people will tolerate those who seek to sexually abuse or exploit children,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office. “We want to thank our colleagues at the San Antonio Police Department and Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for their outstanding work and ongoing partnership as we continue to seek justice on behalf of the victims in this case.”
The FBI investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Mangels prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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