State District Judge Mike Snipes sentenced a serial rapist Friday to life in prison for preying on at least two girls and one woman, but not before giving Jose Rico a stern tongue-lashing filled with classic literary references.
A jury found Rico, 38, guilty last month of sexual assault of a child. But Snipes decided the sentence of the man who became known as the Five Points rapist.
“I have heard the testimony of these poor, innocent girls,” Snipes said. “I am convinced beyond all doubt that you raped these little girls and scared them to death during your monstrous criminal activity.
“So, if I could sentence you to the fate of Prometheus, I would. If I could sentence you to the fate of Sisyphus, I would. If I could sentence you to the Eighth Ring of Dante’s Inferno, I would. If I could sentence you to a trillion years in jail, I would. But I cannot. I must follow the law.
“And so, I will sentence you to the maximum sentence I can under the law. I sentence you to life imprisonment.”
Testimony showed that Rico preyed on the girls, who were 12 and 14 at the time, when they were alone and getting ready for school. He would then bind them with duct tape, rape them at gunpoint and make them wait in the bathtub.
He raped the adult female victim after breaking into her home while she was alone. That victim, who is now 28, briefly testified Friday about her assault.
The attacks occurred between 2007 and 2009 in the Five Points area of Dallas. The area, which is home to several apartment complexes, is so named because five major streets intersect there near Greenville Avenue and Park Lane.
When Rico was arrested, he was deported because he is a Mexican citizen. Police and prosecutors worked to bring him back for trial.
Dallas County prosecutor Carmen White said after the sentencing that Rico would not have been caught without the “dogged work” of Dallas police detectives.
“We had DNA, but it would have gone unsolved if not for the dedication and hard work of the Dallas police officers,” White said.
White said that police eventually found Rico by poring over police reports where officers were called but could not determine that a crime occurred. They eventually found a report that caught their interest and contained a partial license plate number.
The officers discovered that the report incorrectly listed the partial plate number. More interviews led them to the correct partial plate number and a better vehicle description that matched the one used in at least one of the rapes.
Additional detective work, White said, led the officers to Rico.
He will be eligible for parole in 30 years. If he is paroled, he will be deported.