A Richardson school employee faces felony charges after law enforcement reviewed a digital conversation that the social media app Grindr flagged as suspicious. Michael Fouse, 41, was arrested on Aug. 28 on suspicion of online solicitation of a minor.
The investigation began when Grindr identified a chat between two users and reported it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center forwarded the log, along with an IP address and location data, to Richardson police on Aug. 20.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the conversation started around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 17. One user, identified in the document as "Now?" and later linked to Fouse, initiated contact by asking what the other person was doing. The exchange became sexually explicit after the other participant shared that information.
During the chat, the participants discussed their ages. The other user initially stated they were 17, which is the age of consent in Texas, but later corrected themselves and said they were 16. Despite this, the conversation continued with discussions about meeting at a Whole Foods or at Fouse’s residence. Police noted that the two never met in person.
Detectives used telephone records from AT&T and interviews with an apartment complex manager to identify Fouse as the user behind the "Now?" profile. When officers served a search warrant at his home on Aug. 28, Fouse admitted to using Grindr but claimed he had recently deleted the app.
Fouse told investigators that if someone claims to be 16 or 17, he does not meet them in person. However, he acknowledged having a conversation with someone who was 16 a few weeks prior and confirmed details about a proposed meeting at a Whole Foods parking lot.