THE Superior Court sentenced to eight years imprisonment a 29-year-old man who was convicted for sexually abusing a minor in San Antonio two years ago.
Associate Judge David Wiseman ordered Joseph Diaz Sablan to spend three years in jail for oral copulation, and five years for sexual abuse of a child.
Wiseman said Sablan must pay $2,000 fine within one year after his release and $100 in assessment fee.
Wiseman required the defendant to pay restitution toward expenses/costs of the victim arising from the hospital, counseling, and treatment relative to the case.
The judge also ordered the defendant to undergo HIV testing and any type of treatment, counseling or sessions recommended by a professional service provider.
“The court is aware of its responsibility to ensure that this behavior is punished and not tolerated. The young children and students of non-consenting age must be protected,” Wiseman said.
Upon reviewing the files, Wiseman noted that Sablan is no stranger to the criminal justice system having been convicted and sentenced for previous crimes.
In this case, the judge said, Sablan frequented the high school campus waiting for vulnerable young girls and took advantage of them.
“The victim was 12 years his junior. The custody and welfare of the children is not only the concern of the parents, but the community as well,” Wiseman said in the order he issued on Thursday.
Sablan was originally charged with rape, oral copulation, and sexual abuse of a minor.
Last May 10, the jury acquitted him of rape, but found him guilty of oral copulation.
Wiseman found Sablan guilty of sexual abuse of a child.
The government moved the court to remand Sablan to jail pending his June 20 sentencing, but the court allowed him to go home.
Assistant Attorney General Aaron Romano filed a written motion to have the defendant held in custody pending the sentencing. The Public Defender’s Office, the counsel for the defendant, objected.
Wiseman, however, issued an opinion ordering Sablan to turn himself to the Division of Corrections on June 5.
But Sablan did not show up on that day. Wiseman gave Sablan until June 7 to turn himself to Corrections, but he failed to do so. Sablan was then declared a fugitive from justice.
During his scheduled sentencing on Thursday, Sablan showed up in court. He said he was not aware about an order requiring him to turn himself to jail.
According to court papers, prior to the rape that occurred on Nov. 20, 2000, the victim, who was then 15 years old, and her two friends were picked up by Sablan at the parking lot of a movie theater in San Jose.
The defendant, documents said, made the victim and her friends smoke marijuana.
Sablan then brought the girls to his house in San Antonio where he sexually abused the victim.
