Re: Registered Democrat sex offender receives new charges, HCSO finds evidence of additional victim

pothead <[email protected]> wrote in 
news:[email protected]:

> Austin is run by Democrats, what else would you expect?

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Deputies in Hays County said there are new 
charges filed against a man registered as a sex offender after they found 
evidence of an additional victim.

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office said Diego Alejandro Cortez, 24, was 
arrested earlier this month in connection with harboring a runaway child 
and child trafficking. Now deputies shared Cortez also had pictures and 
videos that depicted child pornography.

“They were able to discover several pictures, several videos, all of whom 
our detectives believed were young females,” Deputy Anthony Hipolito said.

According to HCSO, on July 3, investigators found and identified a 13-
year-old victim. HCSO said the girl was a second victim of Cortez’s.

A statement from HCSO said the victim was interviewed, and during that 
interview, the victim said she and Cortez had multiple sexual encounters.

“The victim’s statement was corroborated by the confession of Cortez, and 
evidence found on Cortez’s phone,” HCSO said.

During a news conference Thursday morning, an investigator said deputies 
found even more pictures on Cortez’s phone, yet they have not been able to 
identify the victims who they said “all look very, very young.”

Deputies are asking for other possible victims to please come forward and 
help with the ongoing investigation.

“We want to get you justice,” Deputy Hipolito said Thursday. “What Mr. 
Cortez is doing is sick. It’s evil, and he needs to spend the rest of his 
life in prison.”

As of Tuesday, Cortez was in the Hays County jail and charged with 
harboring a runaway, trafficking a child to engage in sexual conduct, 10 
counts of possession of child pornography and continuous sex abuse of a 
child under 14.

KXAN reached out to his attorney. He said he was just appointed Thursday 
and was not able to provide a statement until he looked over the case.

Hipolito said Cortez met victims on Snapchat through the app’s map feature 
and would alter his image with filters to appear younger.

“Essentially start grooming them at that time, develop a relationship, 
have back and forth, text or private messages until he was able to earn 
their trust, and then he would go and meet them at that time,” Hipolito 
said.

Law enforcement said he used the profile names Dfordiegs and Slowbass4367.

Brittany Esquivel said she went to high school with Cortez.

“There was always something off about him,” Esquivel said. “He was very 
persistent with the girls in high school. He would make fake Twitter 
accounts and Instagram accounts, and he would constantly message me.”

Esquivel said she had to keep blocking him on social media. She said she 
wasn’t surprised when finding out he was using Snapchat to contact 
victims.

“When we read the article, it just kind of made sense,” Esquivel said. 
“But it was still a little shocking. You know, for somebody that you knew 
personally, you went to high school with. It was really weird.”

Warning to parents
Detectives said this is a reminder for parents to always monitor their 
children’s social media accounts.

“If you’re going to give your child a phone, do everything in your power 
to monitor your kids online, app usage, web usage,” Hipolito said. 
“There’s a variety of apps that are out there today.”

This isn’t Cortez’ first time under arrest for something like this. 
According to the sheriff’s office, he was placed on the Texas Public Sex 
Offender Registry in May after getting arrested in Abilene for a similar 
offense.

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/hays/registered-sex-offender-receives-new-
charges-after-hcso-finds-evidence-of-additional-victim/