Webb County Corrections Officers Pleads Guilty To Sexually Assaulting Inmates
Tuesday, December 30, 2024, 6:15 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
LAREDO, TX.- On Monday, December 30, 2024, Hector Humberto Rodriguez, Jr., 28, of Laredo, Texas, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Diana Saldana to Sexually Assaulting and Violating the Civil Rights of two women.
According to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani and charging documents filed with the District Court, Rodriguez was employed as a corrections officer with the Webb County Sheriff’s Department. On two separate occasions, while working in his official capacity as a corrections officer, forcibly sexually assaulted two women while they were being housed as inmates in the Webb County Jail.
In each of the instances that occurred in January 2022, Rodriguez removed the women from their jail cells and isolated them in a secluded area of the jail, where he then used force, threats of force, and coercion to forcibly sexually assault both women. The women later came forward to jail administration and reported and identified Rodriguez as the corrections officer who sexually assaulted them.
Following an investigation, Rodriguez was taken into federal custody, where he will remain pending sentencing. When sentenced, Rodriguez faces up to life in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the two counts.
During Monday’s plea hearing, Judge Saldana accepted Rodriguez’s plea and will sentence him at a time and a date to be determined by the District Court.
“A separate room devoid of witnesses became the setting where trust turned into terror, as Rodriguez, wielding the power bestowed upon him as a jailer, used force and coercion to commit heinous acts. Rodriguez is the worst kind of predator, one who abused his authority, praying upon some of the most vulnerable women in our community,” said Hamdani. “These were women that were in his care, women that he was supposed to look after and protect. Instead, he took advantage of their vulnerability and violated their civil rights for his own sick pleasure.”