The Mission man found guilty this week on 13 counts of sexually abusing a child learned at his sentencing hearing Friday that he’ll be spending the rest of his life in prison.
Enrique Moreno Sanchez, 69, of Mission, has been sentenced to 99 years on seven of the counts against him and 20 years apiece on the remaining six counts against him and received fines totaling $130,000.
The sentences will run concurrent.
Sanchez — who was found guilty Tuesday on a single count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, six counts of indecency with a child (sexual contact) and another six counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child — is not eligible for parole.
At his sentencing, Moreno appeared calm, unemotional and did not appear to express any remorse for sexually abusing the child between the ages of 6 and 9.
He also refused to sign a document acknowledging his right to an appeal; a document notifying him that as a felon he cannot possess a firearm; and a packet of documents laying out his sentence that will be provided to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The only question heard was when he asked his defense attorney whether he could get parole, which he is not eligible for, Hope Palacios, chief of the special crimes division, explained after the hearing.
His conviction for continuous sexual abuse of a child bars him from receiving parole, she said outside the courtroom after the sentencing.
In an interview with The Monitor, Palacios said Moreno is the victim’s step-grandfather who was in a long-term relationship with the child’s grandmother.
“The abuse had been going on for several years,” Palacios said.
As previously reported, booking records indicate the abuse occurred between June 1, 2017, and July 17, 2019. The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office booked Moreno into the county jail on Aug. 7, 2019, according to the records.
An outcry was made after one of the child’s family members witnessed the abuse.
Palacios said testimony during trial — the second criminal jury trial since the onset of the pandemic — included the family member who witnessed the abuse and another family member who testified about observations they had made, not realizing they were witnessing a crime until looking back.
The child’s counselor also testified, explaining to the jury how sexual abuse can occurr over a long period even though it appears the child seemed fine while interacting with Moreno, Palacios said.
“Then we had two analysts from the DPS crime lab and what they were able to do is, is the child had been wearing some shorts and they did a swabbing of a crotch area which allowed for a partial profile,” Palacios said.
That profile was determined to be 15,000 times more likely to belong to Moreno than someone else and while that number isn’t as large as in cases that might appear on television, Palacios explained, all of the pieces presented to the jury resulted in the guilty verdict.
That verdict came after nearly two hours of deliberation, Palacios said.
During the punishment phase, an investigator with the sheriff’s office testified how Moreno had prior convictions, including delivery of cocaine in two instances and a charge of trying to sell a child back in the mid-1980s, she said.
“When that came out in front of the jury, one of the jurors almost made a noise,” Palacios said.
In her arguments during the punishment phase to the jury, Palacios said she told them that the sentence will send a message.
“First off, a message to the victim acknowledging it’s wrong and to all the other children who have been victimized,” she said.
Secondly, it sends a message to Moreno about how horrible his crime is and lastly the sentence would send a message to the community, she said.
“The community needs to know how seriously we take these types of offenses and they need to understand what we need to protect our community,” Palacios said.
And, unfortunately, Palacios said this case is not unusual for the special crimes division.
“These are the types of cases that we handle every single day,” Palacios said. “There are five of us in the division and this is what we do day in and day out and we’ll continue to do it.”
