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On Wednesday, August 18, 2016, Abundio Vasquez, 52, of Denison was found guilty by a jury in the 397^th District Court of Invasive Visual Recording and was sentenced by that same jury to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The prison sentence and fine were the maximum sentences allowed under the law.  Judge Brian Gary presided over the trial.

On September 8, 2015 at around 1:00 PM Yesenia Jimenez, 24 years old and 8 months pregnant at the time, and her mother Irma Jimenez were shopping in Kroger on Loy Lake Road in Sherman.  Irma Jimenez testified during the trial that she noticed a man staring at her daughter. A few moments later Irma looked around and saw the man bending forward with his arm extended and cell phone in hand. According to Irma’s testimony the man was taking pictures underneath Yesenia’s skirt.  Irma immediately confronted the man, who then fled the store.

The Sherman Police Department was contacted and Officers Mark Wood and Cody Woods would investigate the case. Officer Wood testified he was able to identify the Abundio Vasquez  through store employees, who knew Vasquez from previous incidents and had seen him walking around the store that day.  One of those store employees, Rachel Reinsch, testified that she saw Vasquez walking around the store for 30 to 40 minutes prior to the incident and he did not appear to be shopping.  Reinsch described the Vasquez’ behavior that day as “creepy”.   Assistant District Attorney Donnie Carter also played for the jury a copy of video footage of the encounter taken by the store security system.

Officer Cody Woods obtained a search warrant for Vasquez’ home and vehicle. Woods testified that the phone used by Vasquez was not found, but described for the jury his belief that Vasquez, realizing that police would be investigating, disposed of the phone used in Kroger prior to the search warrant being executed.  Officer Woods testified that the day after the incident Vasquez told detectives that he had lost his phone.  Officer Woods further testified that during the execution of the search warrant a brand new phone was found, further supporting his theory that Vasquez had disposed of the phone used in Kroger.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty in less than 30 minutes.

Prosecutors also presented to the jury witnesses from five other instances where Vasquez had been caught either taking photographs or looking up the skirts of women in multiple counties in North Texas.   A female health care worker also testified that in 2009, when she had been visiting patients in the home next door to Vasquez, he had repeatedly exposed himself to her and made lewd gestures through a window in his home.   The jury returned the maximum ten year and ten thousand dollar fine sentence in less than 20 minutes.

“There are some wierdos out there, for sure,” said Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown.   “This man’s behavior was escalating, and he needed to be removed.   This offense – Invasive Visual Recording – is usually punishable by only up to two years in state jail.   If a person has been previously convicted, the range of punishment goes up to 10 years in prison.  He had been sentenced to 20 months in state jail for previous offenses in 2013, so his punishment range was raised to 10 years.   I would guess the jury would have sentenced him to an even longer sentence if the law would have allowed it.

Vazquez was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Donnie Carter.  Plano attorney F.B. Larrea represented Vasquez.

Only three seasons have passed since Howe Head Coach Zack Hudson broke through the doors and revamped the Bulldogs football program.   Since this video, two more championship team photos have been added to the wall and three more gold footballs have been added to the trophy case.  This video was taken during Coach Hudson’s first two-a-days session in Howe in 2013.

KTEN is reporting that the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that a helicopter has crashed in the 200 block of Bennett Road in Howe.  Two unidentified people were aboard the helicopter where one is dead and the other’s condition is unknown.

Multiple crews are responding and the FAA has taken over the investigation.  No more information is available at this time.

**UPDATE**

KXII reported that one was rushed to Wilson N. Jones hospital and another was listed in critical condition.  KTEN reported earlier that one had died.  The Herald Democrat reported conflicting reports whether there was a fatality or not. Two occupants of the helicopter were transported to the hospital, one in critical condition. The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to conduct an investigation beginning tomorrow morning.

The Herald Democrat reported late Tuesday night that Matt Cavender was involved in the accident and was injured.  A Lewisville man was seriously injured and both were taken to Wilson N. Jones hospital.

 

The Howe Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 3rd Annual Back to School Blues Downtown Block Party.  This year, the feature artist is Jason Elmore and Hoodoo Witch.  All downtown business will be open and the downtown area will have vendors service ice cream and shaved ice.  Bounce houses will also be available for the kids.

The 5pm – 9pm event is sponsored by Tomlin Investments, Fierce Motions in Dance, Sheryl Bentley REALTOR, and the Howe Enterprise.

Jason Elmore, formerly of Howe, and his band, Hoodoo Witch”, is a high-energy trio that blends jump blues, hard-hitting rock, vintage soul/r&b, and traces of 60’s country into a unique-but-familiar sound that always maintains the essence of the blues while simultaneously offering a fresh take on the genre.   The band is comprised of Jason Elmore on guitar and vocals, Brandon Katona on bass, and Mike Talbot on drums. These cats are uncommonly seamless in their ability to tailor their performance to suit the venue and demographic, without compromising the integrity of their mission, which is to give 110% with every single performance, regardless of whether it’s 2 people or 2,000.

Having grown up with an obsession for all genres of American roots music, Jason Elmore is remarkable in his ability to appeal to fans of all genres of music with his virtuoso-level guitar playing, soulful and powerful old-school vocals, and keen sense of songwriting.  It is common to see an artist excel at one of those three things, but Elmore is uncanny in his ability to express himself with an original and unique voice as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter.   All one needs to do is watch him play live one time in order to have a good understanding of how all of these different genres of music have a common thread when it comes to eliciting an emotional response from the listener and taking them to that special place where only the music exists and the troubles of the world are temporarily put on hold.

The band is currently set to release their third full album, titled ‘Champagne Velvet’ in September 2016 on the Underworld Records label.  The album is a slight change of direction from the band’s 2010 album “Upside Your Head” and 2013’s “Tell You What”, both of which featured a heavy emphasis on Texas rock and blues.  ‘Champagne Velvet’ sees the band exploring their soul, blues, and country roots more in-depth than before with a sense of excitement and fire that is uncommon in the contemporary blues scene.  It is a throwback to 1950’s jump blues, rockabilly, and Memphis soul.  The guitar tones are cleaner, the bass and drums interplay with more dynamics and the grooves jump like a kangaroo on a hot sidewalk.  All 13 original songs flow with an abundance of melody, harmony, and clever lyrics.  At the same time, there is  just enough variety to quench the thirst of fans of the more rock-oriented material of past albums.  ‘Champagne Velvet’ is like a road trip from Dallas to Memphis, TN with a quick stop by the West Coast on the way.   It perfectly captures the essence of the band doing what they do best, which is bringing unrestrained boogie to the party.   So get ready to groove with Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch.