Austin ISD principal charged in Montgomery Co. solicitation of minor case

AUSTIN, TX (KTRK) -- A principal at a middle school in Austin has been busted in Montgomery County. He's accused of online solicitation of a minor.

He was arrested at his school on Austin's north side, and could soon be moved to Conroe to face this charge.

News of David Dean's arrest sent shockwaves through his Burnet Middle School family.

"I liked him. But then when I heard it, as a dad having a daughter, it kind of upset me," one father told KEYE-TV.

Austin ISD sent a letter home with parents explaining that the district police department was notified by the Attorney General's Office and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office that their beloved principal had been arrested for online solicitation of a minor in Montgomery County.

"Why Montgomery County, he thought this was a good county to come to, I'm not sure," questions Misty Zimmerman.

We spoke with her and Dennis Riley as they were leaving Candy Cane Park in Conroe Monday evening.

"There's just no excuse for it," Riley says. "There ought to be some signs that this is going on."

"I have a 15-year-old daughter and that's my greatest fear, that you would think a school administrator of all who we send our children to protect when they're not with us, to do something like that is horrific," Zimmerman adds.

Dean is being held in Travis County jail on $70,000 bond. He will be transferred to Montgomery County Jail at some point. If he really did what investigators arrested him for, Misty Zimmerman says she's glad they got him.

"And I hope he's never around kids again," says Zimmerman.

No word from investigators at this point regarding how they caught him, what he was planning to do with the minor he solicited, or when he will be moved to Montgomery County. We expect to hear more from them Tuesday.

Dean has been placed on administrative leave without pay, effective immediately.