WARREN COUNTY, OH – On Tuesday, Judge Donald Oda II sentenced Fabian Esparza-Tapia, 35, to 15 years in prison, for the continued sexually abuse of a child between 2017 and 2020. The assaults began when the victim was 12 years old.
Sentencing came immediately after Esparza-Tapia pleaded guilty to rape, gross sexual imposition, sexual battery and illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.
Esparza-Tapia gained access to the child as he spent a great deal of time at her home, visiting the preteen's sibling.
The Dayton Daily News reported:
A family member saw nude photographs of the victim on the victim’s iPad, which led to the discovery of the assaults, according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. The victim said Esparza-Tapia directed her to send the photographs to him.
On August 17, 2020, a grand jury, indicted Esparza-Tapia on two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of sexual battery and illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.
However, as part of a plea deal, the illegal alien was allowed to plead guilty to only four of those counts, and in return, receive a lesser prison sentence.
Though Esparza-Tapia did get a much lighter sentence, than he would have had he gone to trial and been found guilty, the victim was also spared the rigors of testifying at a trial, as well.
In a statement to the press, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell:
Anytime you have sexual assault allegations, those are particularly difficult cases for the victim. So it was a negotiated plea by agreement with the victim. Fifteen years (sentence) is the number of years we were were able to get in lieu of going to trial. The stresses of going through trial for a sexual assault victim can be difficult, so this was a resolution that allowed us to get a significant prison sentence all be it maybe not much as perhaps we could have gotten.
