Life in prison for Sweetwater man convicted for child sex crimes

Chano Martinez Hernandez, 64, pleaded guilty to eight child sex crimes and was sentenced by Nolan County District Court Judge Glen Harrison.

SWEETWATER, Texas — A 64-year-old Sweetwater man has been sentenced to life in prison for child sex crimes.

On Friday, Oct. 28, Chano Martinez Hernandez pleaded guilty to eight child sex crimes and was sentenced by Nolan County District Court Judge Glen Harrison.

Hernandez pleaded guilty to charges including two counts of possession of child pornography, five counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of sexual performance of a child.

On April 13, 2022, someone found a cell phone at the Circle Drive Apartments in Sweetwater and while trying to identify the owner of the phone, they noticed inappropriate pictures of a 6-year-old child, an April 2022 Sweetwater Police Department release said.

The phone was turned in to the SPD, who obtained a search warrant and found multiple lewd photos of the child.

A warrant was issued for Hernandez’s arrest on April 14, and he was found and arrested April 15.

At the time of his arrest, Hernandez had two phones in his possession, which were seized by officers and taken as evidence. On April 17, police were informed of two additional phones, one of which was reported to have lewd pictures of a different child.

The Sweetwater Police Department obtained search warrants for the four phones. During an interview with the SPD and Texas Department of Public Safety, Hernandez admitted to engaging in sexual contact with the child.

He was booked in to the Nolan County Jail at that time.

RELATED: UPDATE: More charges for man arrested for possession of child pornography, Sweetwater Police say

“We are extremely pleased with the sentence imposed on Chano Hernandez,” Sweetwater Police Chief Bryan Sheridan said Friday. “It sends a direct message to the community that these types of horrific crimes will not be tolerated in Nolan County. I would like to point out that Mr. Hernandez could still be sexually assaulting children if we didn’t have a citizen find his phone which contained illicit pictures of young children on it and report it to our Police Department. This is a perfect example of our citizens working with our Department to bring this type of predator to justice. I would also like to praise Officer Ughanze for his work investigating this case.”

Sweetwater Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Child Sex Crimes

SWEETWATER, Texas – On Friday, October 28, 2022,…

Posted by Sweetwater Police Department on Friday, October 28, 2022

(The video below was originally posted in April 2022.)

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button