Former Fort Hood soldier Mauro Castaneda Palacio, 38, of Killeen is facing a 20-year prison term after his second conviction for sexually soliciting minors over the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks sentenced Palacio to 10 years in prison Friday after Palacio’s conviction on charges of attempted coercion and enticement of a child.

Palacio will serve that sentence after first completing a 10-year sentence on a previous state charge of criminal solicitation of a minor.

Palacio was first convicted for stalking a 14-year-old girl in Montague County with whom he had conversed in an Internet chat room.

Army investigators arrested him in connection with that case in March 2003.

The second conviction stems from what prosecutors said was Palacio’s attempt to solicit what he thought was a child on the Internet in November 2003, while he was free on bond after the first arrest.

In that case, however, the child was actually an investigator from the Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit.

A second man, Scott Lynn Atkinson, 33, of Corsicana, pleaded guilty to 13 counts Monday in Navarro County in an unrelated case, stemming from the discovery of child pornography on his home computer.

He will serve four years in prison, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday.

"I am heartened by the stiff sentences being handed down by judges and juries against those who try to harm children," said Attorney General Abbott.

"Child predators must be stopped, and I will continue to pursue them to protect Texas children from harm."

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