News
Sherman Man Allegedly Admits To Having Sex With 8-Year-Old Girl
SHERMAN, TX -- A man from Central America who was convicted of sexual assault of a child in Grayson County is headed to prison.
After 7 months in jail, the Sherman man reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and admitted his guilt.
The district attorney says a woman noticed strange behavior in her granddaughter and when she asked about it, she learned the little girl had been having sex for several weeks.
"It hurts. It hurts me so much, especially because the mom and the dad not here," says the victim's relative.
A Sherman woman says her own home and her beloved granddaughter are now constant reminders of what Carlos Alberto Portillo, 35, did.
"A woman reported that her 8-year-old granddaughter had been sexually assaulted by her live-in boyfriend," says Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown. "The man had confessed to his girlfriend, and then after a police interrogation, he confessed to the police department."
"It changed my whole life, my granddaughter's life," the relative says.
Because of the nature of the crime, KTEN is choosing not to identify the woman, who says she was relying on Portillo's income, and now feels trapped, alone, and surrounded by terrible thoughts of what happened.
"It bothers my whole family, the closeness, my relationship with my granddaughter, it really ruined it," the woman says.
"The girl reported to the Children's Advocacy Center that he had had sexual contact with her over several weeks and he ended up telling them that it was 6 months," says Brown.
Brown says over that time, they believe Portillo had either sex or sexual contact with the girl at least 10 times. Neighbors on Holly Street are shocked.
"I have 5 children and 12 grandchildren, so anyone that harms a child is, in my opinion, a low life," says one neighbor.
"The neighbors are generally pretty nice, there's been a couple weird situations from a neighbor that lived over there," says neighbor Brian Page.
The grandmother tells me that over the past several months that her boyfriend has been here in the Grayson County Jail, she's gotten used to not seeing him, and she hopes that now that he's headed to prison, she'll never have to see him again.
"Since he's got taken away from here, I haven't seen him since then," the woman says.
Locked up since Dec. 29 on a $250,000 bond, the Salvadoran citizen was --according to Brown -- interviewed by a Spanish-speaking Sherman officer.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated sexual assault of a child in Judge Brian Gary's courtroom, and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
"It's not enough for me. It's not enough because I did so much for my grandkids and I wish that more than 50 years, and it's not enough to pay his sentence, you know," the woman tells me.
Now she tries to forget and move forward.
"It's hard to explain because those kind of people doesn't deserve to be free," the woman says.
"He probably would have gotten even more from a jury, but we felt like it was a long prison sentence and a good, a good agreement," says Brown.
Brown says an examination of the girl confirmed signs of injury. Portillo will be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Brown added in a statement released to the press on Wednesday: "It is also interesting that this offender is from El Salvador. There should be no misperception that all of the immigrants coming here from Central America are law abiding."