HARLINGEN — Tejano star Joe Lopez is expected to walk out of a Huntsville prison Thursday after more than 11 years behind bars.
HARLINGEN — Tejano star Joe Lopez is expected to walk out of a Huntsville prison Thursday after more than 11 years behind bars.
In 2006, a Cameron County jury gave Lopez 32 years in prison for raping his niece, Krystal Lopez, in 2004, when she was 13.
Joe Lopez, a Grammy-award winning singer and co-founder of Grupo Mazz, was sentenced to 20 years for one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, eight years for a second count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four years for indecency with a child.
But because he was serving his sentences simultaneously, he was ordered to serve 20 years in prison.
On Jan. 26, the Texas Pardons and Parole Board granted Joe Lopez, 67, parole after he served a nine-month sex offender treatment program.
Joe Lopez is scheduled to walk out of prison between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday, said Robert Hurst, a spokesman with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, on Tuesday.
But Joe Lopez’s release is tied to several conditions. Upon his release, he will undergo “supervised parole” through Oct. 31, 2026. The parole board has ordered him not to contact Krystal Lopez nor enter Harris County, where she lives, without prior approval.
Krystal Lopez, now 27, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
About one year ago, the board’s decision to order Joe Lopez complete the nine-month sex offender treatment program came after Krystal Lopez told the board she opposed her uncle’s parole.
Also, Joe Lopez was ordered “not to reside with, contact or cause to be contacted any person 17 years of age or younger in person, by telephone, correspondence, video or audio device, third person, media or any electronic means, unless approved by the supervising parole officer.”
And, the board ordered Lopez to register as a sex offender, have no unsupervised contact with children under 17, undergo a “super-intensive” supervision program and have no Internet access.
Like many of Lopez’s fans, Bill Habern, his former attorney, has said he believes Lopez will be exonerated.
However, the sex offender program Lopez underwent requires offenders to admit to the crimes for which they were convicted, Hurst said in an earlier interview.
Last year, it appeared the state would release Lopez from prison by last fall. But in February 2017, the parole board ordered Joe Lopez to complete the nine-month sex offender treatment program after it gave Krystal Lopez an opportunity to make her case against her uncle.
Andy Kahan, the City of Houston’s victim advocate, had requested the state grant Krystal Lopez the hearing because she did not receive the opportunity to make her case before the board voted to grant Joe Lopez’s parole.
At the time, Kahan said she had not registered with the state’s Victim Notification System, which notifies victims of information such as parole hearings.
Krystal Lopez’s information led the board to extend the length of Joe Lopez’s treatment program from four to nine months, Kahan said.
