I have a hard time agreeing with this take.
DSM wasn't a registered sex offender.
View attachment 485994
From
Public Sex Offender Registry Search - Texas Public Sex Offender Registry
Unfortunately, due to the news coverage of this case, it's not possible to know what Google search results would have shown a month ago.
https://pubweb.brazoriacountytx.gov/PublicAccess/Search.aspx?ID=100 (search his name)
https://pubweb.brazoriacountytx.gov/PublicAccess/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=2970263 (2007 case)
Polk County doesn't have searchable court records. Brazoria County does. But what you can find out really doesn't say much. Apparently the original charge was "attempted indecency with a child" (
source) but struck a deal and pled guilty/no contest to a lesser charge of "enticing a child". per
Texas Penal code it only talks about interfering with lawful custody of a child - nothing would indicate it was a sexual crime.
I don't know if there would have been any news coverage of the 2007 case, especially since there was no trial. And the Click2Houston article has a lot more detail on the initial investigation, but for us, the public, the 'register of actions' you can see is very short on details. (In my experience, getting full court docs in California is time consuming and expensive; not sure how Texas counties do it.)
And this is really way more searching which I would not expect the average person to conduct. (Different counties, possibly ordering court records.) DSM does have a pretty extensive rap sheet of assaults and other crimes, but scattered throughout several counties, and the one case that could have triggered him having to register as an RSO, he did not plead guilty to a crime that would have mandated it. (see
this link).