Former Judge Posted Fake Escort Ads Of Ex-Girlfriends, Jailed For 6 Years

A former judge of Texas was sentenced to six years in prison for giving out the private information of two of his ex-girlfriends in sex-for-hire advertisements online.

The court found Christopher Dupuy, 47, guilty of online impersonation on Wednesday, and posting fake escort ads under the pseudonym “Don Tequila,” which was ruled an act of revenge. The advertisements posted by Dupuy, included pictures of his former girlfriends from their social media accounts as well as their personal details such as name and phone numbers. Dupuy posted the ads in 2014 on a site called Backpage.com – which was shut down in April as part of an investigation into prostitution and human trafficking by the FBI.

“All along the way there have been new offenses,” prosecutor Adam Poole told Houston Chronicle. “It’s just been a really long time in coming, but hopefully he is done with Galveston County now.”

The accused was initially arrested for online impersonation in 2015, after which he spent nearly a year in jail, including an unspecified amount of time in solitary confinement. After a visiting county judge declared the state’s statute pertaining to online impersonation as unconstitutional, Dupuy was released in 2016.

An arrest warrant was issued for him in May the same year after an appellate court overturned the 2016 verdict and a woman approached the authorities claiming that Dupuy, who represented her ex-husband in their divorce, had called her 200 times and threatened to kill her in the span of a single evening. In the following month, investigators found him hiding in the attic of his home in Austin and he was placed under arrest.

“You’re going to die soon,” Dupuy reportedly told the woman, according to court records cited by the Galveston County Daily News. “I’m coming for you.”

Investigators said they gathered evidence against Dupuy after conducting a search of his computer and phone. However, defense attorney Simone Bray argued the evidence against his client was “circumstantial” because detectives focused on him alone, without looking for other suspects.

“I did believe there was some reasonable doubt here,” Bray said. “But the citizens of Galveston felt different, and I respect their verdict.”

Dupuy has a criminal record. He resigned from office in 2013 after he was accused of lying under oath and abuse of office. Later in the same year, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges, abuse of office and perjury, and was sentenced to two years of deferred adjudication.

Following his arrest, Dupuy was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. After he was sentenced to 45 days in jail for using his Facebook page to criticize a prosecutor, Dupuy was ordered by a judge to refrain from using any social media platforms or the internet, New York Post reported.