A 27-year-old Willis Independent School District employee is being held on a $125,000 bond after detectives say he exchanged inappropriate photographs with a 14-year-old former WISD student. Austin Gwaltney was arrested Monday following an investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship with the teen, and he was booked into the Montgomery County jail on a charge of online solicitation of a minor.
Gwaltney worked in the district's Information Technology department, according to detectives cited by Click2Houston. Per the Willis Independent School District staff directory, he was specifically listed as a Technology Support Helper assigned to the district's Sharon Hill Jennette Administration Building, meaning he worked out of central administration rather than in a classroom setting. Investigators with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office executed both an arrest warrant and a search warrant at Gwaltney's residence on Monday, and the case is being carried under reference number 26A299451.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office are jointly conducting the investigation, which remains ongoing. Anyone with information about the case, or anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Gwaltney, is asked to call the sheriff's office at 936-760-5800.
How Texas Law Treats Solicitation Involving Former Students
Because the alleged victim is described as a former WISD student rather than someone currently enrolled at Gwaltney's own campus, questions naturally arise about how the case can proceed as a felony. Under Texas Senate Bill 7, the state expanded Texas Penal Code § 21.12 so that school district employees face felony prosecution for online solicitation regardless of whether the student attends the employee's own district or another public or private school, according to the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators.
Separately, Texas Penal Code § 33.021 classifies online solicitation of a minor involving sexually explicit communications as a third-degree felony carrying 2 to 10 years in prison, though the charge escalates to a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years if the minor is under 14, according to the Ceja Law Firm. The dossier does not specify which degree of the charge prosecutors have filed against Gwaltney. A conviction would also trigger mandatory sex offender registration for at least 10 years after the completion of any sentence or probation, per Chapter 62 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, as outlined by the same firm.
Part of a Wider Pattern Across the Region
Willis ISD contracts its campus law enforcement and security services through an interlocal agreement with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, an arrangement recently extended into gun-threat coverage of the district's security infrastructure. That same sheriff's office leads both campus resource officer deployment and Special Victims Unit investigations across district campuses.
Gwaltney's arrest follows a string of similar cases across Greater Houston and Montgomery County this year. In June, Montgomery County detectives arrested a Magnolia softball coach in an online sex sting targeting a 15-year-old, executing search and arrest warrants at his home much as they did in Gwaltney's case. In April 2025, sheriff's investigators arrested a Conroe ISD kindergarten teacher on similar online solicitation charges following a digital investigation. And Click2Houston has reported on multiple ongoing school employee misconduct cases across the Houston area this month, including a Katy ISD paraprofessional charged with online solicitation of a 13-year-old student.
State Data Shows Steady Stream of Misconduct Reports
The pattern extends statewide. Texas Education Agency data from August shows the state agency receives an average of 1,640 educator misconduct reports monthly and opens roughly 250 new sexual misconduct investigations each month, according to Texas Scorecard. Willis ISD, meanwhile, continues to expand, having opened its newest campus, Ruth Castleschouldt Elementary School, this month as part of long-range district growth plans.
It remains unclear whether Willis ISD has placed Gwaltney on administrative leave or terminated his employment, and whether his access as an IT department helper allowed him to reach student contact records. Investigators have not said whether additional victims have come forward, and the specific statutory sub-charge or felony degree prosecutors intend to file has not been disclosed.
