Mexican national sentenced for breaking into Springtown-area home, groping child

A Mexican man convicted of breaking into a Springtown home last summer and fondling a 9-year-old girl has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Israel Andrade, 36, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to burglary of a habitation with intent to commit indecency with a child. It was part of a plea agreement, after which he was sentenced by Judge Craig Towson in the 43rd District Court in Weatherford.

Andrade will not be eligible for parole until 2037, prosecutors said.

“This defendant faces federal probation violation charges for illegal re-entry after deportation in a 2011 case,” Parker County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain said in a news release. “He also faces deportation once he is released.”

Andrade, who had been deported from the United States at least four times, arrived in Texas just 30 days before he was arrested hours after the burglary and fondling, deputies said.

A 9-year-old girl told deputies that she was awakened by a man groping her as she and her siblings slept on a couch in the family’s home near Springtown in July. The suspect came in through a bedroom window, authorities said.

The suspect, whom the girl did not know, motioned her to follow him to the bedroom where he had entered and told her to come with him, deputies said.

The girl ran screaming into her parents’ bedroom while the intruder ran to the same window and exited.

“The quick-thinking actions of this brave young girl who decided to run for help rather than follow a criminal’s directions likely prevented this case from being much worse,” said Parker County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Catania.

Her parents found their cellphones were missing when they went to call 911, so the mother drove to a convenience store to call for help. A computer also was taken.

At the scene, deputies found a set of footprints and identified a suspect staying at a home about a mile away.

Deputies found Andrade asleep at his relatives’ home in the 100 block of Alta Vista Street in Springtown. Investigators said he was sleeping on top of one of the stolen cellphones. When an investigator asked one of the burglary victims to call their cellphone, one of the phones that Andrade was sleeping on rang.

After obtaining a search warrant, deputies later found two pairs of panties wrapped inside a pair of Andrade’s blue jeans — one pair belonged to the little girl and the other to her mother.

Investigators also seized a pair of tennis shoes from Andrade with tread patterns similar to footprints found outside the girl’s residence.

Andrade was deported from the United States four times: in July 2003, February 2004, September 2009 and December 2010, based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement information.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Mexican national sentenced for breaking into Springtown-area home, groping child."