LA PORTE, Texas – A La Porte man who was arrested in February and charged with possession of child pornography is now facing additional charges after a woman came forward and said she was victimized by him 13 years ago.
Ryan Rhett Cooper, 39, is now charged with sexual assault of a child. His bond is set at $200,000 and his next court date is scheduled for Wednesday, according to Harris County jail records. Jail records indicate he was booked into jail last Friday.
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According to court records, when a search warrant was executed at Cooper’s La Porte home in December 2024, Cooper agreed to a polygraph exam and also admitted he had engaged in sexual contact with a child under the age of 17 when he was an adult. Cooper said this happened when he was in his “mid-twenties.” Cooper alleged the child told him they were 18 and that he had engaged in sexual activity with them in 2012. The documents say Cooper would say he later learned the child was actually 16 and since 2012, he had not spoken to the child.
After his arrest on child porn possession charges, the court documents say individuals were commenting on Facebook and Instagram posts regarding Cooper’s arrest. At that time, detectives received a call from an unknown witness, claiming they had been following the news and had seen a comment from someone on social media who said she may have been “one of his (Cooper’s) first victims.”
After learning the witness and the unknown woman had spoken, detectives reached out to the woman who made the comments and learned she is now 27 years old and lives in Oklahoma. She told detectives she had met Cooper online in 2011 when she was 13 years old and was still living in Houston.
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The documents say the woman told detectives during the fall of 2012, when she was 14 years old, Cooper had picked her up from her home and engaged in sexual activity with her in his vehicle. Cooper drove the girl to a nearby park where more sexual activity occurred in the back seat of his truck. Cooper than drove her back home and dropped her off. The woman said this was the last time the two would see each other until she was 17 years old.
The woman said she immediately told Cooper she was 13 years old. Cooper was 26 years old at the time. The court documents said this matched the confession detectives say Cooper made to them about having sexual contact with an underaged girl during his “mid-twenties.”
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