FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – A 63-year-old registered sex offender will now spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old during her hair appointment in 2020, according to the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office.
On April 4, Sergio David Chavarria was convicted on two charges of indecency with a child and acquitted of another by a Fort Bend County jury. After he was found guilty, Judge Steve Rogers sentenced him to life in prison on both charges.
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Evidence admitted during the punishment phase of the trial proved that Chavarria had also been previously prosecuted for sexual assault in 1998.
Evidence presented by prosecutors Craig Priesmeyer and Alycia Curtis with the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office showed that in October 2020, Chavarria engaged in sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl while he was washing her hair at a Richmond hair salon owned and operated by his wife.
According to Priesmeyer, following the child’s haircut, the child told her mother she never wanted to go back to the salon. When asked why, the child disclosed the abuse. Minutes later, during the mother’s 911 call to the police, the child revealed Chavarria had previously molested her in February 2020 when she was just 12 years old.
During the trial, the now 16-year-old girl testified about what happened to her.
“She brought us back to the worst moment of her life, although she desperately wanted to forget what happened. That made it difficult for her to remember some of the abuse, but thanks to the defendant leaving behind his DNA, she didn’t need to,” Priesmeyer said.
During closing arguments, prosecutors acknowledged that what Chavarria did is every parent’s worst nightmare, and they praised the child for her courage in speaking up both in October 2020 and years later in the courtroom.
“There were many heroes involved in this pursuit of justice: law enforcement, Harris Health Systems, Child Advocates of Fort Bend, and the Texas (Department of Public Safety) Crime Lab; but the biggest hero was the victim. I have no doubt that her courage to speak up prevented this defendant from preying on other innocent children. The jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence should be a message to anyone who preys on our children that we will not tolerate it,” Priesmeyer said.
Indecency with a child by sexual contact is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. In this case, because Chavarria was previously convicted of sexual assault, he was subject to an automatic enhancement to imprisonment for life. Chavarria must serve 35 years in prison before being considered for parole.