Lufkin, TX officer pleads guilty to 100 felony counts of Flock misuse; 5 years in prison per count

Zachary Anthony Klein, an 11-year Lufkin PD veteran, was arrested by Texas Rangers on Aug. 20, 2026 on abuse-of-official-capacity and tampering charges, six days after USA TODAY asked Lufkin police about his Flock use. Case No. 2026-0455, State of Texas v. Zachary Klein, 159th Judicial District Court, Angelina County: 100 counts under Tex. Penal Code § 39.06(e), each a third-degree felony, filed 08/21/2026. The counts are dated 07/31/2024 to 05/19/2026. Bond was set at $500,000 and reduced to $250,000 at his Sept. 28, 2026 arraignment (KTRE). On Sept. 30, 2026, he pleaded guilty to all 100 counts before Judge Todd Kassaw and was convicted on each; the court committed him directly to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 5 years on each count, starting that day, with 42 days of jail credit. The register does not say whether the sentences run concurrently. Lufkin PD suspended department-wide Flock use and began an audit.

Reported search counts: about 45,000 total Flock queries (Yahoo/Newsweek; haveibeenflocked.com's operator tally is 45,318); "more than 10,000" (IJ.org database); and more than 3,400 searches on a single plate over 10 months (USA TODAY). The Flock audit logs Lufkin PD released to us on Oct. 1, 2026 list 22,813 queries under his name from June 2024 to December 2025, with no file for May 2025; the most-searched plate appears 8,708 times. His targets: vehicles of 11 people (Lufkin Daily News) versus seven license plates (USA TODAY).

The Angelina County District Attorney's office said a Texas Rangers investigation found more than 25,000 Flock inquiries for non-law-enforcement purposes, about 18,000 of them on plates associated with three people: his ex-girlfriend, her family members and people she has dated. He also agreed to a lifetime protective order on the basis of stalking for his former dating partner (CBS19, Sept. 30). He had been booked on tampering with a governmental record and abuse of official capacity (Lufkin Daily News); KWTX reported that the state agreed not to pursue those two unindicted charges. A second Lufkin officer, placed on leave after some of his searches were flagged in the department's audit, was cleared by the Texas Rangers on Sept. 15 (Lufkin Daily News).

How we know: Register of actions read directly (Oct 1, 2026). Identity match to the "K ZAC" operator confirmed in v3.26, correcting v3.25. Not shown on the register: whether the 100 sentences run concurrently or consecutively. The KWTX statement is paraphrased from its video report. Updated Oct 1, 2026; earlier versions ended with the Sept 28 arraignment.