On September 26, 2023, a Travis County judge increased the bond for a Hispanic male in an alleged sexual assault case that took place in 2022.
The Hispanic man is now facing a criminal trespass charge in a second case and sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping charges in a third case.
In November 2022, Austin Police initially arrested Dubias Vasquez related to a sexual assault incident that took place close to downtown Austin’s Sixth Street in June 2022.
The Austin Police Department claimed that the case took so long, partly owing to “many unique characteristics and challenges to investigating these offenses that are not typically seen in other crimes. This incident involved an unknown suspect, which caused a considerable amount of time and effort to identify the suspect.”
In court on September 26, the suspect’s attorney Jorge Vela repeatedly called the credibility of the investigation into question, partly due to discrepancies that emerged throughout the alleged victim’s conversations with law enforcement.
Per the affidavit for that arrest, investigators also connected to Vasquez’s car to an incident that occurred at Barton Creek Square Mall on June 14, 10 days following the alleged rape on Sixth Street, which involved a different woman. Law enforcement asserted that she filed a report claiming a man entered her car while she was in the parking lot and pressed her to engage in sexual activity with him. Defense attorney Vela contended that Vasquez didn’t engage violent behavior in this case and it took place in a public venue, so it shouldn’t be considered trespassing.
In court on September 26, law enforcement recounted in court that the victim couldn’t initially select Vasquez out of a lineup because of a haircut, which threw a wrench in the investigation. He ended up being charged nearly a year later with criminal trespassing, which is a misdemeanor offense.
Court records demonstrate that Vasquez was let loose on bond in the 2022 downtown sexual assault case with a GPS monitor following the reduction of his bond from $250,000 to $100,000. He was placed under curfew as part of those bond conditions and could only be outside of his home from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., per a pretrial services coordinator who spoke out in court on September 26.
KXAN used court records and proceedings to list out Vasquez’s offenses:
One of the defense’s principal arguments put forward during the bond hearing was that the state did not possess the grounds to deem Vasquez a danger to the community due to the length of time it took to arrest the Hispanic mail.
During the bond hearing on September 26, prosecutors called for the revocation of Vasquez’ bond.
In the end, a judge increased the bond for the June 2022 charge and issued a $170,000 bond for the subsequent charges.
In October, Vasquez will appear at a pretrial conference.
Such cases have become all-too common in jurisdictions with soft-on-crime district attorneys. With respect to Travis County, its DA José Garza is a George Soros-funded agent that works to turn the Austin metro area — one of the most prosperous areas of the United States — into a veritable Gotham statelet.
Hopefully, Austin residents can come to their senses and relieve Garza of the burden of holding higher office.