From staff reports
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 6:28 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 6:28 p.m.


Hector Emiliano Vasquez

A Greenville man pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a girl in Spartanburg County.

Hector Emiliano Vasquez, 27, entered an Alford plea Tuesday to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. In an Alford plea, defendants don't admit guilt but concede that a jury could find them guilty. Vasquez was originally charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 11.

Circuit Judge Roger Couch sentenced Vasquez to five years. Vasquez will receive credit for the 455 days he has served in jail. Vasquez also was ordered to register as a sex offender. Vasquez, an illegal immigrant who worked as a laborer prior to his arrest, faces deportation after his release from prison.

A man filed a report in December 2012 with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office after his then 9-year-old daughter told him that Vasquez had sexually assaulted her.

Seventh Circuit Assistant Solicitor Hillary Welborn told Couch that the child also disclosed that Vasquez sexually assaulted her during interviews at the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) of Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union.

Vasquez has denied the allegations, Welborn said.

Vasquez’s attorney, Spartanburg County Public Defender Matthew Shealy, told Couch that Vasquez understood the risk of a trial and accepted the prosecution’s offer, which carried a recommended seven-year cap in sentencing, versus a possible life sentence had he been convicted of the original charge.

http://www.goupstate.com/article/201...cles/140529963