Olton Man Admits to Enticement of a Minor

          LUBBOCK, Texas — Jimmy Kit Fields, 37, of Olton, Texas, appeared today in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge D. Gordon Bryant, Jr., and pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor, announced Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

          Fields faces not less than 10 years and not more than life in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and not less than five years nor more than a lifetime of supervised release.  Fields has been in custody since his arrest on June 15, 2018, and will remain in custody pending sentencing.

          According to the plea agreement factual resume filed in the case, in March 2018, Fields gave Jane Doe, a 13-year-old minor, a cell phone. Jane Doe’s father had suspected an inappropriate relationship between his 13-year-old daughter and Fields, and reported the incident to the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) in New Mexico. The RCSO conducted a search on the contents of the cell phone given to Doe by Fields, but were unable to find any evidence of a crime.

          On May 30, 2018, the RCSO responded to a call to investigate a report that Doe was missing. Doe’s parents believed their daughter may be trying to meet with Fields, and believed she had been communicating with him on her laptop computer. Doe later returned to the residence and provided the RCSO the password to her Facebook account.

          A review of Doe’s Facebook account by the RCSO revealed Fields had numerous sexually explicit conversations with Doe since May 29, 2018, and leading up to their contact the following morning at 1:00 a.m. During that contact, Fields provided alcohol to Doe during their encounter. In the factual resume, Fields admitted to having sexual contact with Doe on four occasions.

          The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood leverages federal, state and local resources to better investigate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children.  Project Safe Childhood also prioritizes identifying and rescuing victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

          The Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO), the Lamb County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey R. Haag is in charge of the prosecution.