Paxton claimed he was Texas’ “top” law enforcement officer who combated human trafficking and sex crimes. However, his record does not reflect that. Paxton offered a one-day jail sentence to a man accused of child sexual abuse. In another case, he kept a man convicted of child sex trafficking off the sex offenders registry. Ken Paxton did not live up to his word to protect children from sex crimes.
Paxton Offered A One-Day Plea Deal To Adam Hoffman, Who Was Accused Of Child Sexual Abuse. According to the Texas Tribune, “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under fire for a plea deal his prosecutors offered last month to a Waco man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy. The deal in the case, which Paxton’s office took over about three years ago after the locally elected district attorney recused himself, would have let the man plead guilty to two misdemeanors and serve a total of just one day in jail[...] Beyond Paxton’s immediate political rivals, the deal has attracted criticism from local officials in Waco, including the McLennan County district attorney, a state representative from the area and even the judge presiding over the matter.” [Texas Tribune, 5/19/26]
Paxton Offered A Plea Deal To An Individual Accused Of Child Sex Trafficking, Keeping Him Out Of Jail And Off The Sex Offenders List. According to the Texas Public Radio, “Two years ago, Rakim Sharkey was facing the rest of his life in prison for sex trafficking two minors and an adult woman. But former prosecutors in the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office offered him a plea deal that kept him out of prison and off the sex offender registry. That deal may now be coming apart though, as Sharkey was rearrested in Nueces County in April. He has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint and burglary. According to police records, Sharkey and a second man used weapons to try and rob and detain people in a house in Corpus Christi. Three and a half bags of marijuana were seized along with pills, cash and guns[...] Sharkey was initially arrested with another man in 2017 for selling the sexual favors of three women through force, fraud or coercion. This included two minors. He was charged with ‘continuous’ trafficking of persons for the alleged repeated occurrences, which carries a prison term of 25 years to life in prison.The girls were runaways from a San Antonio drug treatment center. In court, they described beatings and being forced to have sex with older men over the course of days. Lawyers from Paxton’s sex trafficking unit had a wealth of evidence against the two men including: text messages arranging meetings with men, photographs, hotel surveillance, cooperating victims and at least one corroborating witness.” [Texas Public Radio, 7/22/25]