A Guatemalan national who spent years sexually assaulting a young family member has been sentenced to 99 years in prison. A Collin County jury found Ismael Lopez, 39, guilty of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14.
The case is particularly disturbing to Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis because the small victim, a family member, had thought her nightmare was over when Lopez was deported the first time. The girl had been sexually assaulted for several years when Lopez was arrested for drug and drunken driving charges.
“He does get deported back to Guatemala,” Willis said. “He’s gone there for approximately 10 months. He reenters the country and picks up where he left off with the child and repeatedly assaults her several times a week.”
The girl finally told her mother, who risked deportation, herself, for reporting the assaults to police.
“It can be a complicated thing in these situations where you have somebody who is not a U.S. citizen, in this case, a Guatemalan national. It’s just so frustrating when someone like that gets deported for breaking our criminal laws, and somehow make their way back in and continue to wreak such havoc on the life of a child,” Willis said.
In this instance, Willis says there is a special law that allows crime victims to get legal immigration status when they report and assist police and prosecutors in solving a crime.
As for the victim, Willis says her nightmare is over without a chance Lopez will ever return.
“Normally what would happen is he would serve his entire term, and if he is still living be deported. He won’t still be living,” Willis said.
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