A Montgomery County jury handed down a lengthy prison sentence to a man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a girl on her 13th birthday.
Epifanio Adolfo Jimenez, 45, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony.
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The jury listened to a series of witnesses, many of which traveled from outside of the United States. The victim herself also took the stand.
The assault occurred in 2017, on the victim’s 13th birthday. The victim was related to Jimenez.
Nobody else knew that the horrific crime had happened until the victim confided in a school counselor around five years later in 2022.
Just a week after the assault, Jimenez was arrested by Galveston Police Department officials as a part of a sting operation. He believed he was talking to a 15-year-old, whom he solicited for sex.
After Jimenez was found guilty, jurors were exposed to further accounts during the punishment phase.
Women described violent encounters they had with him, and authorities provided evidence that he had accessed online dating platforms while on probation from the arrest in Galveston arrest. On the dating sites, he attempted to connect with single mothers in an attempt to access their children.
The prosecution urged the jury to act to protect the women and children of Montgomery County from a man who “cannot stop and will not stop.”
On April 30, the 99-year prison sentence was announced.
“A 99-year sentence sends a clear message: if you hurt our children, you will pay the price,” District Attorney Brett Ligon said in a statement announcing the sentence.