TEXARKANA, Texas — A former Texas High School band director has pleaded guilty to a child exploitation violation in the Eastern District of Texas.
Brandon Neil Sams, 48, pleaded guilty on March 19 to coercion and enticement of a minor before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Boone Baxter, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
While serving as a band instructor at THS, Sams engaged in repeated attempts to coerce and entice several of his students to engage in sexual activity. Sams admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with several minor victims, all of whom were his students.
Sams would communicate with the students on social media and messaging applications to persuade, induce, entice and coerce them to participate in sexual activity, according to the news release.
Sams was arrested in 2022, after one of the boys’ parent saw disturbing messages on their child’s phone. Sams allegedly fled when law enforcement tried to question him.
Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas, police assisted Texarkana ISD police and later that day located Sams at his home, where he was arrested for felony evading arrest.
Sams’ cellphone was never located, and he told investigators he threw it out a car window, according to court documents.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Sams with federal child exploitation violations in September 2023. He faces up to life in federal prison. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations and Texarkana ISD. Sams’ case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Austin Wells.
Sams is also facing charges in Bowie County of improper relationship with a student, evading arrest and evidence tampering.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.