Texas Penal Code - PENAL § 32.61. Malicious Solicitation of Disaster Victim or for Disaster Response or Recovery

(1) “Disaster” has the meaning assigned by Section 418.004, Government Code.

(2) “Disaster volunteer” means a person who provides or offers to provide a service at no cost to or at the direction of:

(3) “Relative” has the meaning assigned by Section 20.01.

(4) “Victim of a disaster” means a person who has suffered harm as a result of a disaster.

(1) solicits a donation from another person while inducing the other person to believe that the donation will be used for disaster response or recovery, regardless of the manner of solicitation;

(2) solicits donations on behalf of a donee with the intent to retain the donations instead of delivering the donations to the donee on whose behalf the donations were solicited;

(3) solicits payment from a victim of a disaster after:

(4) solicits payment from a victim of a disaster while inducing the victim to believe that the actor will search for or return to the victim a relative who is believed to be missing as a result of the disaster.

(1) for a first offense, a felony of the third degree;  or

(2) for a second or subsequent offense, a felony of the second degree.