Man gets prison after raping children

Editor’s note: This story contains content of a sexual and violent nature against children, as well as violence against animals. Reader discretion is advised.

BLACKFOOT – A Pingree man was sentenced on Monday after a jury found him guilty of two counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16 after a two-day trial.

Hugo Vazquez Gonzalez, 36, was sentenced by District Judge Darren Simpson to a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison for two counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16. Both counts will be run concurrently.

Gonzalez was also charged in two other cases. In the first, he faced two more felony counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16, and in the other, three counts of felony injury to a child.

After being found guilty, he accepted a plea agreement, in which he would plead guilty to a third count of lewd conduct if the state agreed to dismiss the fourth count and the three felony injury to a child charges entirely.

During sentencing, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Jolley recommended a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison, with each case to be run concurrently.

Gonzalez’s public defender, Scott Madson, argued that Gonzalez should be allowed probation.

Background of the case

On June 17, 2022, a woman arrived at the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office to report that four of her relatives, all minors, had been sexually abused by Vazquez.

A forensic interview was conducted for the first victim – the one Vazquez was convicted of abusing – on June 30. During the interview, the 13-year-old told the interviewer the abuse started in May 2021, and always occurred at Vazquez’s home in Bingham County.

According to the girl, the abuse started with inappropriate touching and kissing but soon escalated to her being raped “every day, every night, all the time.”

She also told investigators that Vazquez would “check her out of school after lunch, or keep her home from school to rape her, or make her go to work with him because of his lack of trust that she would tell someone about the abuse” — and she missed 282 class periods during the 2021 to 2022 school year, according to court documents.

She then described the last abusive experience she encountered with Vazquez, saying he checked her out of school around June 16, 2022. The victim asked if she could be dropped off with another relative, and Vazquez became angry.

Vazquez then slapped her three times in the face, “took her to his room, and did stuff to her there.”

Vasquez told the victim if she ever told anybody about the abuse, he would “kill her cat, hurt her siblings, hurt her mom, or her mom’s family,” according to court documents.

In one circumstance, the victim says she told Vazquez no when he tried to assault her, so he kicked her cat across the room. The victim was then raped.

The second victim, also a minor but her age is not clear, sat down with investigators for a forensic interview later that day, where she disclosed that she had been abused by Vazquez too.

This victim said after she was raped by Vazquez, he would give her $5 and tell her not to tell anyone about the abuse.

She also told investigators that herself and the other victims were often “hit on the back of the legs with a belt” causing their skin to be “ripped off.”

On July 5, 2022, a third victim participated in a forensic interview, this time an 8-year-old boy.

The boy told the interviewer that Vazquez was violent toward animals, describing an incident where he picked up a puppy and “kicked it out of the car” before running it over. The victim also said Vazquez shot one of his pet dogs.

The boy told investigators that Vazquez would often whip him with the belt. When asked why he did not tell anyone, he said that Vazquez threatened that he would shoot his mom if he spoke about the abuse.

The fourth victim, a 10-year-old girl, told investigators that she was also whipped by Vazquez.

In one instance, Vazquez spilled coffee in a chair and told her that if she didn’t clean it up in 30 seconds, she would be whipped.

The victim says she wasn’t quick enough, and Vazquez whipped her. She was then forced to take a cold shower and was whipped again afterwards.

She also told investigators that Vazquez would pay “clown music” and put on “scary clown movies to scare them.” He would also “turn off all the lights and play hide and seek” to scare them, according to the victim.

All four victims were sent to Portneuf Medical Center for full body examinations. Medical staff told the deputies that all of them showed “scarring on their bodies from what they described as being whipped by (Vazquez) with a belt.”