Former East Texas deputy pleads guilty in child sex crimes case

HOUSTON COUNTY, Texas (KETK) – A former Houston County Sheriff’s Office Deputy has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and production of child pornography.
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Federal court records released on Monday show that Skylar Laza, a former Houston County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was arrested for aggravated sexual assault of a child, has signed a guilty plea for two charges of sexual exploitation of children/production of child pornography.

Skylar was tried in federal court because he was under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations division for breaking federal law.

Skylar was fired from the sheriff’s office and arrested in Nov. 2025, after one of his juvenile relatives was interviewed forensically and corroborated videos of that showed Skylar sexually assaulting them.

As a part of Skylar’s guilty plea, he admitted to engaging a minor in sexually explicit conduct with the goal of creating child pornography that he went on to knowingly distribute. Skylar will be sentenced by United States Magistrate Judge John D. Love and that sentence will have to be approved by a United States District Court Judge.

According to the United States Department of Justice, Skylar faces a minimum of ten years to a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

Three of Skylar’s relatives have also been arrested for related crimes in connection to this case.