The Fingerless Oil Drilling Predator Will Die In Prison

Randall Wolford was born in 1954. Residing in Whitewright, Texas, he worked as an oil-drilling consultant, a high-paying job, and married, having a daughter born in 1980. He lost a portion of his right index finger, but it has never been revealed how.

Using the screenname "itnew2me," he chatted with a Perverted Justice decoy named Sequoia, who told him she was just 13 years old, on November 3rd, 2006. In spite of her being just a quarter of his age, he said, "I would come over and make out with you... show you how it feels... let you enjoy me as much as I would you... I love to give oral and feel the sensation for your orgasms." Just an hour after the brief chat ended, he hopped in his car and drove an hour to the Dateline sting in Murphy, Texas.

He showed up that night believing that Sequoia's mom was a technology executive away in business in Austin. After helping himself to a drink and pointing out the pool table, Sequoia asked if he had ever had intercourse on a pool table, to which he replied that that was probably "the only thing [he was] good at on a pool table." After Chris Hansen came out, Wolford nervously began helping himself to some candy, telling Chris he was "forty... nine" when asked. Wolford, really 52, also lied and said he was 46 in the chat log. He told Chris he "fully intended on waiting until her mother got home" to "explain how [he came] to be here," as if the decoy would get in trouble. When Chris wasn't buying his excuses, Wolford pulled the Christianity card, claiming that "God is [his] savior" and that he was telling the truth. When the cameras came out, Wolford picked up his drink and left.

Arrested by the Murphy Police Department, his person and truck were searched. He had a condom in his pocket and 14 guns with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a digital camera with naked pictures of himself in his truck. After trying the Good Samaritan story again to no avail, he admitted everything to detectives, saying, "I am guilty and I have to accept my punishment" and that he didn't know why he would do something so stupid. Wolford was charged with online solicitation of a minor, a felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, and released on $50,000 bail.

When Wolford's wife found out what he did, she did not stick by him, like the wives and families of most predators do. She filed for divorce immediately, and it was finalized on March 2nd, 2007. Randall Wolford would ultimately have the charges against him dropped on June 28th of that year, with the suicide of Louis Conradt, Jr., and a petty feud between the Murphy Police Department and District Attorney's Office each playing a role. Now alone, he moved from his home in Whitewright to a new one in Midlothian, Texas.

That wasn't enough to stop Wolford from soliciting more children online. In March 2008, an undercover officer with the Samson Park Police Department posed as a 13-year-old girl named Jennifer online. Using the screenname "lighmanntx@yahoo.com," Randall Howard Wolford contacted the decoy in a Yahoo chat room. He was worried Jennifer was an undercover officer or a Perverted Justice decoy, which the officer obviously denied. After less than two hours of chat, Wolford began asking her about her sexual history and telling her in graphic detail what he wanted to do to her. He suggested she stay home sick from school so they could meet, said he wouldn't meet her unless he showed her a webcam video of himself masturbating (which he proceeded to do), and, on April 14th and 15th, 2008, gave the decoy his number and called her to verify her age, respectively.

Wolford set up a meet for a McDonald's in Fort Worth on April 23rd, 2008, but he did not show up. Another meet was set for April 30th, 2008, at the same McDonald's, and he showed up. The decoy, in the outfit she said she would be in, walked to the restaurant and said she needed to use the restroom inside in response to Wolford shouting, "Hey Jen... over here. Get in!" from his vehicle. He drove off, apparently spooked, and was arrested.

In September 2008, Wolford was charged in federal court with one count of enticement of a child by U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. After a one-day trial before U.S. District Judge John A. McBryde, a jury found him guilty. He remained in jail without bond and, on April 17th, 2009, was sentenced by said judge to 292 months (24 years and four months) in prison followed by lifetime registration as a sex offender. This was actually a merciful sentence considering Wolford A) faced up to life in prison for this charge, B) had previously been caught by Perverted Justice and Dateline, and C) admitted in his chat that he had an interest in minors and had previously had sex with a minor.

Wolford appealed his sentence, arguing that he believed that "Jen" was actually on adult and that evidence of his history being admitted to court made jurors biased against him. On June 8th, 2010, an appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence. He filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on October 4th, 2010; on November 15th, the Supreme Court, not surprisingly, declined to hear his case. Because federal prisoners must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before being released, Wolford will not be eligible for parole until December 22nd, 2029; he will be 75. Considering he has one victim and two attempted victims at the very least, I think it would be better for everyone if he dies in prison. The Murphy predators get less attention because all but two (Louis Conradt having killed himself and a gentleman named Asif Khokar being convicted in his home jurisdiction of Houston for the case) were let off the hook, but Wolford is among the worst men Dateline, Chris Hansen, and Perverted Justice have ever caught.

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