Nov 6, 2006 4:44 pm US/Central
Rockwall Co. ADA Kills Self As Warrant Served
TERRELL (AP) ―
Former Kaufman County District Attorney Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr. killed himself as police tried to serve an arrest warrant for soliciting sex with a minor, authorities said.
Conradt, 56, was chief felony assistant attorney for nearby Rockwall County at the time of his death Sunday.
Police forced their way into Conradt's Terrell home after hearing a gunshot when he refused to answer the door, a police spokesman said. The officers found Conradt with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He later died at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
Police in the town of Murphy in nearby Collin County said Conradt had solicited sex from a decoy posing online as a 13-year-old. Murphy police were attempting to serve an arrest warrant and a search warrant for Conradt's computer when he shot himself, Murphy Police spokesman Sgt. Snow Robertson said.
Published reports say the sting was a joint operation between Perverted Justice, an Internet watchdog group, and NBC's news magazine "Dateline." The sting lured men seeking sex with children to a house in Murphy, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas.
Murphy police said Conradt had not gone to the house but believed he would.
Robertson said there was nothing police could to do prevent Conradt's death, which happened while an NBC crew waited outside on the street.
"When somebody decides to do this, there is nothing you can do," he said.
According to a statement released by NBC, "There was no contact whatsoever between Conradt and "Dateline" at any point in the investigation.
Conradt was Kaufman County's elected district attorney for more than two decades before resigning in 2002 to run for a judgeship. He lost and later took the Rockwall County job.
Murphy Mayor Bret Bishop said that he hopes Murphy won't be used again as a trap for child predators.
"We're going to do whatever we need to do to make sure this doesn't continue," he said. "I think it's a noble cause, but our police department is hired to serve and protect our citizens, and not to expose them to outside threats."
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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