SANDY OAKS – He pleaded guilty to attempted online solicitation of a minor and decided to run anyway for a city council seat in his small town in southern Bexar County.
But Stephen Gruver, 77, dropped out of the Sandy Oaks election on Wednesday — the day after KSAT first tried to contact him for comment.
City Secretary Katherine Yelton said the city of 5,400 people will no longer hold an election since the other candidates are now all running unopposed. Yelton said the race had already been left off Bexar County’s original sample ballot anyway, as she had forgotten to submit the information.
Yelton said the city will not incur the cost of an election.
In September 2020, just a little under three years before he submitted his application for a place on the City of Sandy Oaks ballot this summer, Gruver had been arrested on a warrant out of Tarrant County for online solicitation of a minor.
According to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest warrant, Gruver communicated on the apps Skout and Kik, and exchanged sexually explicit text messages in April 2020 with who he thought was a 15-year-old girl.
When, in fact, it was an undercover investigator with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office who was part of a sting operation.
During their exchange, Gruver said he would “teach” the teen how to have sex, asked her for photos of herself while partially undressed, and gave her explicit instructions on how to perform a sexual act on herself. He also sent selfie-style photos that investigators compared to his driver’s license.
Court records show Gruver pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge of attempted online solicitation of a minor in July 2022.
But because he received deferred adjudication, Gruver was not convicted. Instead, his plea was set aside until he finishes a two-year probation period, which ends in July 2024.
If he successfully completes the probation, Gruver’s case will be dismissed without a conviction appearing on his record. If not, he could still be convicted and sent to state jail.
The charge carries a possible punishment range of 180 days to two years of confinement.
Texas law prohibits someone from running for public office if they have been “finally convicted” of a felony. But given the ongoing status of Gruver’s case, there does not appear to be anything illegal about his initial candidacy.
KSAT made multiple attempts to reach Gruver for comment by phone, text, and email, but he never responded.
A KSAT crew made a final attempt to reach Gruver at his home Thursday morning, but the woman who answered the door instructed them to leave.