On Thursday, December 12, 2024, 57-year-old Gary Kenneth Rumbaugh pled guilty in the 115th District Court of Upshur County to the offense of Online Solicitation of a Minor under 14 years of age. He received a prison term of 50 years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
While living in his mother's home, Rumbaugh was 55 years of age contacting several young minor children by Facebook Messenger, with one explicitly informing him that she was only 12. This all occurred while the children were in school. Not only did Rumbaugh contact minors online, but he invited the child to his home by giving her his exact address and also invited her to Gladewater Park by enticement. He told the child who identified herself as a 12-year-old that he had had sexual intercourse with children her age before. To this date, detectives have been unable to identify these victims.
The Gladewater Police Department investigated the case.
The State was represented by Criminal District Attorney, Billy W. Byrd, and the case was presided over by the 115th District Judge, Dean Fowler.
