Overview
- A judge sentenced Joe Suarez Jr. on Thursday to life in prison without parole plus two consecutive 20-year terms for continuous sexual abuse of a child and indecency with a child.
- A Bexar County jury convicted Suarez on May 26 after a four-day trial that ended with roughly four hours of deliberation.
- The case began when an 8-year-old told a teacher in March 2016 about abuse, and two more victims later identified Suarez as their attacker.
- Bexar County DA Joe Gonzales recused his office because he had previously represented Suarez, the case was referred to the Texas attorney general's Criminal Prosecutions Division in late 2023, and a grand jury indicted Suarez in 2025.
- Prosecutors called child abuse experts and the three victims testified in court about chronic abuse in Suarez's home and inside his 18-wheeler, and Attorney General Ken Paxton said the office secured justice by putting the predator behind bars for life.