Texas family sues DirecTV over sex offender who came to their home

[August 09, 2014]  By Lisa Maria Garza
 
 DALLAS (Reuters) - A Dallas family has sued satellite television provider DirecTV after a man making a service call at their home was found to be a registered sex offender who took photos of their 12-year-old daughter, their lawyer said on Friday.

DirecTV said the man had absolutely no affiliation with the company and was brought to the house by a contractor, who has since been fired for violating company policy, spokeswoman Jade Ekstedt said in an email.

Wahren Scott Massey, 48, was arrested as a result of the August 2012 incident.

Massey pleaded guilty in October to attempted indecency with a child and attempted sexual performance of a child for the pictures he took of the girl. He was sentenced to four years in prison, according to legal documents.

The family said in court documents Massey went into a room where their daughter, who was 12 at the time, was alone. The daughter, who is a gymnast, was stretching and said Massey asked to take photos of her on his cell phone with her legs in the air, according to the police report.

Massey took about five pictures of her. He looked to make sure no one was watching and asked the girl to keep the incident quiet, the report said.

When Massey left the room, the victim told her mother, who called police.

Officers performed a background check on Massey, discovered he had been a registered sex offender in Texas since 1998, and issued a criminal trespass warning. His phone was confiscated as evidence and a warrant for his arrest was issued months later.

The family's attorney said they attempted to contact DirecTV for an explanation as to how this happened but received no response so they decided to sue, seeking between $100,000 and $200,000 in damages and also to make sure this does not happen to other customers.

The company said DirecTV installation contractors and subcontractors are required to complete a background check before being allowed to perform any installation services.

(Reporting by Lisa Maria Garza; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Eric Beech)

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