A Houston-area man who once volunteered as a youth counselor at a local church has been placed on probation instead of prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography. Kevin Patrick Hartgrove received deferred adjudication and four years of community supervision, according to court records, following his arrest more than a year ago on two felony counts tied to child sexual abuse material.
Harris County Judge Kelli Johnson handed down the deferred adjudication, court records show, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. Deferred adjudication is a type of Texas probation that can keep a conviction off a person's record once the terms of community supervision are completed. Hartgrove pleaded guilty to possessing fewer than 100 images of child pornography, per court records cited in that report.
Arrest Followed an IP Address Tied to Hartgrove
Hartgrove was arrested in August 2025 after authorities said they found child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded from an IP address connected to him, according to court records. At the time of his arrest, he volunteered as a youth counselor at a church, a role confirmed by the Precinct 1 Constable's Office, though neither authorities nor court records disclosed the name of the church.
The Precinct 1 Constable's Office reported there was no evidence that Hartgrove exploited any children he worked with at the church. Separately, Hartgrove worked as a project manager at a company in Pasadena, outside Houston.
Accounts of his age and the scope of the evidence against him have varied across coverage of the case. The Chronicle's original August 2025 report and ABC13 both identified him as 45 years old at the time of his arrest, while more recent reporting lists him as 47. The two felony charges filed in 2025 covered, per the Chronicle's earlier report, one count involving fewer than 100 images and another involving video and film footage — while ABC13 reported that hundreds of images were found on a computer allegedly belonging to Hartgrove. The discrepancy between those accounts has not been resolved in available records.
Court Records Describe Ages of Children in the Material
Court records state that Hartgrove possessed child sexual abuse material depicting children described as ages 9 to 14, according to the Chronicle's more recent report on the case's resolution.
Strict Conditions Attached to Probation
Under the terms of his community supervision, Hartgrove must register as a sex offender and is barred from using the internet, working with or contacting minors, and going within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds. His probation also includes monthly fees, participation in a restitution program and sex-offender treatment, court records show.
Texas law generally allows a judge to dismiss proceedings and discharge a defendant from deferred adjudication once the required supervision period has been served, according to the Texas Constitution and Statutes. However, that same provision bars such dismissal for offenses that require registration under the state's sex-offender statute — a category that includes the charge against Hartgrove.
Hartgrove's defense attorney was not immediately available for comment, according to the Chronicle's reporting. The case was covered in earlier reporting by Jarrod Wardwell, with the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston serving as the venue for proceedings in the case.
