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An illegal immigrant has pleaded guilty in a Harris County court to murdering a woman in 2003 and leaving her body in wooded area in Tomball, but the victim’s family is upset about the sentence.

Joel Guadalupe Sanchez, 34, pleaded guilty in Judge Susan Brown’s courtroom Sept. 12, after a plea bargain was reached with Harris County prosecutors. Brown sentenced Sanchez to 10 years behind bars.

Tomball investigators were able to tie Sanchez to the murder of Sandra Williams last year, after a state DNA check received a hit from evidence entered by the Tomball Police Department.

Williams’s body was found by a witness who had been flying a remote control plane around the 900 block of Persimmon. The witness notified Tomball Police.

Williams’s body was savagely beaten and she was tied up. A sledgehammer with her blood was found nearby.

“The body was bound and it appeared there was trauma to the head,” Tomball detective Gary Hammond said. “We recovered DNA off the body.”

After forensic evidence was collected, Hammond tried to find out information about the victim and her connection to Tomball. He hit a brick wall.

“It was very difficult,” he said. “No one could give me a tie to the Tomball area.”

Hammond kept in touch with the victim’s mother Lula Washington and the victim’s daughter Crystal Williams, even as the case grew cold over the years. Both of the family members reside in North Carolina.

“I told (Washington) at the beginning that we would find the person responsible and she reminded me of that every time we talked,” Hammond said.

The case remained cold until 2010, when Hammond received a phone call that a prison inmate, who underwent required DNA testing, had come back as a match to DNA found at the crime scene. That inmate was Joel Sanchez.

Hammond then went to the prison unit where Sanchez was incarcerated and obtained a saliva sample. That DNA test also proved a match.

“He said he didn’t know (the victim),” Hammond recalled. “Saying you don’t know someone isn’t a plausible reason for why their DNA was found on the victims body.”

Another break came when the girlfriend of one of Williams acquaintances said that Sanchez came to their home looking for Williams.

“She said that (Sanchez) came by their house looking for Williams,” Hammond said. “He was really mad because she had taken his car and had not returned it.”

A connection to Tomball was established when Hammond learned that Sanchez had family that lived near the crime scene.

That evidence was enough to pursue charges of murder against Sanchez last May.

Sanchez’ lawyer, Monica Gonzales, said the decision to plead guilty was his alone.

“He pled guilty,” Gonzales said. “The evidence against him was only circumstantial, but it was his choice to plead guilty.”

While Williams’ family is satisfied that their loved one’s killer was caught, they are upset with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office nonetheless.

“At least they got the person that did it,” Washington said. “I thought he should do more years though.”

Both Washington and Williams said no one from the district attorney’s office contacted them to ask about the plea bargain, or to tell them when a court date would be.

“I thought they would call because we planned to be there, but we didn’t hear anything from them,” Washington said. “The only way I found out is because Mr. Hammond called to tell us.”

“I want to know why he killed her,” she added. “Why did he do the things he did to her?”

Williams agreed with her grandmother.

“He didn’t just shoot my mom,” she said. “He brutally murdered her and gets 10 years? It’s not right. They knew that I kept up with the case all these years and they never contacted me.”

 She blames the system for several cracks, including that Sanchez is an illegal immigrant.

“This dude --- this illegal immigrant --- he’s a terrorist too,” she said. “He came here, killed a United States citizen and he will be out by the time I’m 35.”

The district attorney’s office did not return repeated calls for comment before press time.

“I would like to know how he knew my mom and why he did what he did,” Williams said. “My mom has three grandchildren she will never meet.”

The Tomball Police Department will be participating in the annual National Night Out, along with members of the Tomball Fire Department and Northwest Rural Emergency Medical Services, officials recently announced.

The event, held Oct. 2, will feature a community wide cookout and a roll call presentation at the Tomball Depot Plaza.

“This event will give Tomball community members and visitors a great opportunity to see that Tomball is Texan -- for public safety,” Sgt. Rebecca Carlisle said.

National Night Out is a nationwide event that is now in its 29^th year. The National Association of Town Watch started the program, which has grown to include 37 million people in 15,325 communities nationwide, in Canada and at military bases worldwide.

National Night Out Project Coordinator Matt Peskin said the event has not only grown in numbers, but also in presentation.

“There has been huge growth in terms of numbers, but in addition to that it has grown into the event we see today, with the block parties, cookouts and neighbors getting out and meeting each other,” he said.

The event started with traditional outside lights and front porch vigils and has grown into cities celebrating with block parties, cookouts, parades, festivals, visits from local officials and public safety personell, safety fairs and youth events.

The organization’s goals for the event are to heighten crime prevention awareness, generate support for and participation in local anti-crime programs, strengthen neighborhood spirit and public safety community partnerships and to send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and prepared to fight back.

Tomball Police Chief Robert Hauck said the local event is designed to bring residents and public safety officials closer together.

“We already have a great working relationship with our citizens,” he said. “This gives us a chance to thank them for how they help us do our jobs better and to meet them in a more personal setting.”

A Tomball woman was convicted of Intoxication Manslaughter by a Montgomery County jury, in a rare case involving legal prescription drugs.

Sherri Lorene Holloway, 31, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison following her conviction. The case stemmed from a crash on SH 105 in February of 2011, where Holloway crossed the center line, hitting a white Chevrolet van, killing its driver, Kenneth Buffington. Prosecutors said he was killed almost instantly, due to the force of the crash.

Holloway was seriously injured in the crash and sent by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Witnesses said Holloway’s vehicle was weaving erratically before the crash, even causing a tractor-trailer to have to leave the roadway to avoid her, so State Trooper Eric Lopez obtained a blood sample from Holloway at the hospital. He was also given a baggie with numerous pills that hospital staff found on her.

Lab results showed that Holloway had a combination of valium, soma and hydrocodone in her system at the time the sample was taken.

After hearing testimony from forensic experts and witnesses to the crash, jurors took less than 10 minutes to convict her of the crime.

During the punishment phase prosecutors were able to enter evidence of another crash involving Holloway, which injured Tomball police officers Cpt. Rick Grassi and Sgt. Rebecca Carlisle.

Prosecutors said that in May of 2010, Holloway hit theTomball police officers in a police vehicle on FM 2978, while they were on their way to a police funeral in Conroe. Both officers were injured in the crash. She was allegedly under the influence of the same drugs when that crash occurred.

The 12-year sentence means that Holloway must serve at least half of that before she is eligible for parole. She will be credited with time served already in the Montgomery County Jail, meaning she will possibly have to serve less than five years in state prison.

UPDATE: Munoz-Verudes is now in custody, following his arrest last Saturday, according to detectives. He was due in court today.

ORIGINAL STORY: Tomball police are searching for a man they say lured a 17-year-old girl to his home with promises of a spiritual blessing and proceeded to rape her.

Mario Munoz-Verudes, 60, has been charged with sexual assault. Police say he claims to perform “black magic.” Police said that according to documents found in his home, the man is an illegal immigrant, according to a citation from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The victim told police that Munoz-Verudes is a family friend and a member of their church. On Sept. 23 the man told her that she “looked sick and needed a blessing.” He invited her to his home and she accepted.

When they arrived at the man’s home, he took her into the bedroom where there who two mattresses, and a cooking pot on the floor. Statements say that the man lit incense in the cooking pot, then attacked the teen.

The victim said that Munoz-Verudes then placed his hand over her mouth and pushed onto the mattresses. He then raped the victim, according to police.

Afterwards, the man told the girl to get dressed and leave, warning her that he would put a curse on her if she told anyone about the assault.

Police said the victim did not tell anyone of the rape for a few days, that is until he attempted to lure her younger sister to his home as well.

“The victim came forward to her family when he invited her younger sister to his house for a ‘blessing’ as well,” Tomball police Cpt. Rickey Doerre said. “He was at a family gathering and the victim knew exactly what would happen to her sister if she went to his house.”

Investigators then went to the man’s home and found the items she described in the bedroom.

The man remains at large. Police are asking that anyone with information on Munoz-Verudes whereabouts contact them at 281-351-5451. Police have forward the man’s information to INS and Border Patrol. He will have a $60,000 bond upon his arrest.

Tomball Police Department personnel are investigating a tragic hit and run traffic collision that resulted in a pedestrian being transported, via Life Flight, to Memorial Herman Hospital where he remains in critical condition.

This morning at approximately 6:30am, a pedestrian (Earl Moore, 55 years of age, a Tomball resident) was walking westbound in the 800 block of James Street, (toward the HEB grocery store – his place of employment), when he was struck from behind by a vehicle also traveling westbound. The force of the impact caused Mr. Moore to be thrown into an open ditch located on the north side of James Street, where he laid unconscious and critically injured until Tomball Police Officer Rick Garza (at approximately 7:00am) passed the location and noticed Mr. Moore lying motionless on the ground.

Officer Garza immediately stopped to provide aid and realized that Mr. Moore had been the victim of a hit and run.

Paramedics from Northwest Emergency Medical Services responded, provided medical aid, and coordinated transportation via Life Flight, to Memorial Herman Hospital.

The suspect is still outstanding, and investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying the individual who was driving what is believed to be a white, Ford sedan.
If you have any information regarding this case, please contact Detective Jimmy Harral, at (281) 290-1311, or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Tomball police have arrested a man suspected in an early morning hit and run which seriously injured a pedestrian Oct. 8.

Detectives obtained a warrant for Juan Carlos Romero, 32, of Tomball after evidence led them to a vehicle owned by the man. He was charged with a felony of Failure to Stop and Render Aid.

The events started when a Tomball police officer found Earl Moore, 55, lying in a ditch on James Street. The officer determined that Moore had been hit by a car. He was life flighted to Memorial Hospital where he is still being treated for his injuries.

Detectives pieced together a ford headlight from evidence left behind. After calling in representatives from Ford, it was determined that the vehicle was either a white Ford Ranger or a Ford Explorer.

Detective Harral decided to drive through a nearby apartment complex, Dartford Square Apartments, and found a Ford Explorer with damage that was consistent with debris left at the accident scene.

"I spoke with the defendant's wife who stated that she was a passenger in the vehicle the night of the accident," Harral wrote in the charging documents. "It was learned, through the passenger, that the defendant struck a pedestrian who was walking west on the north side of the roadway."

Romero's vehicle was taken into custody for forensic processing.

Romero was arrested at around 11 p.m. Oct. 17, at his apartment.

He is being held on $5,000 bond.

Tomball Police arrested a man suspected of robbing the local Auto Zone, thanks to information provided by a Tomball jail inmate.

Police arrested Justin Ross Hightower, 30, of Tomball, Nov. 9, following a Nov. 8 robbery at Auto Zone, where a suspect displayed a handgun and ordered the cashier to give him money from the register.

"The cashier complied and the suspect took the money and fled the location," a Tomball press release stated. "Officers, investigators and criminalists arrived at the scene and began their investigation."

Police sources stated that they received a break in the case the next day. A patrol officer arrested a suspect that appeared to be coming down from a drug high. The suspect told investigators that they knew who robbed the Auto Zone and gave detectives Hightower's name.

Police arrested Hightower that evening and found evidence, including a pellet gun that was used in the robbery. Hightower is also a suspect in other robberies and break in's in both Harris and Montgomery counties.

Hightower was charged with aggravated robbery. His bond was set at $30,000.

Questions about red light cameras are once again being raised, after the Tomball City Council recently voted to extend the program for five more years.

City Councilman Field Hudgens was the lone dissenting vote on the issue and said that he prefers the issue be brought to a vote of the citizens.

"I wasn't questioning the legality or constitutionality of the cameras," he said. I want to see the issue decided by the voters of the city."

Opponents of the cameras have often cited privacy concerns and the lack of a clear criminal process as reason to oppose the cameras, while supporters say the numbers prove that the cameras work and that making the punishment merely a civil issue is easier on violators.

"Coming from California where the camera system was entirely punitive, where violations went on your record and you had fines in upwards of $400, I believe the system works better the way it is designed in Texas," Tomball Police Chief Robert Hauck said.

Numbers have shown that since the cameras were turned on, the number of traffic accidents has decreased tremendously.

Before the cameras were installed there were 626 accidents in the city. By 2010 that number had dropped to 322 – a decrease of 49 percent.

"Although red light cameras have contributed to the decrease, they are not the sole factor," said Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi. "There are other reason that we call the three e's of traffic safety – engineering, education and enforcement."

Hauck said the revenue generated from the cameras has allowed the department to enhance other aspect of traffic safety, including adding sidewalks to heavily traveled routes.

"This program and the revenue generated from it has allowed us to enhance our traffic safety enforcement, without providing criminal penalties to violators," he said. "Every ticket an officer writes for a red light violation goes on your record and can cost hundreds of dollars in fines."

Grassi and Hauck said that the cameras are just a tool in the broader spectrum of traffic safety and unlike other cities; Tomball has not tried to turn it into a major revenue generator.

"The City of Tomball has never lost focus on the primary purpose of cameras, which is public safety, not financial compensation," Grassi said.

"We have never come back and tried to make this system into a cash cow by adding more cameras, even though our contract with the vendor says that we can," Hauck said

Hauck also said the cameras are just a part of a broader effort of traffic safety enforcement within the city.

"Adding things like the flashing lights in school zones is something we would not have been able to do," he said.

Hudgens said that he doesn't deny the numbers that support the cameras; however, he believes that the citizens have not been heard.

"It is a volatile topic and it should go to the citizens for a vote," he said.

In order for a vote to happen, a citizen led petition drive must occur, or the city council must agree and vote to add the issue to the ballot.

Members of the Tomball High School Student Council rewarded area police officers, firefighters and EMS workers for their dedication, by providing a free lunch for them Jan. 30. Students called it the Food for Courage campaign.

"We started this five years ago with a Cookies for Courage campaign and it evolved into serving an entire meal," said student council advisor Billie Ann Dio. "It's a way of giving back and a good way for the students to see the true heroes of the community."

The students served beef stew, rice, salad, bread and desserts. The desserts were made by the students, while the staff of the Tomball High School cafeteria helped make the rest of the meal.

"It's a great blessing for me to be able to do something like this," said student council President Anna Liu. "A lot of people my age don't get to contribute to their community. I get a lot out of giving back. I love getting to show them gratitude for all that they do for us."

Student Matthew Pallini agreed with Liu.

"It's very comforting to help the people who help us," he said.

Cpt. Daniel Hancock of Northwest EMS said recognition and appreciation like this makes the job worthwhile.

"We don't work for thank you's, we do this because we love to help, but something like this is very nice and motivational," he said.

Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi said that seeing the area youth come together like this gives him hope for the future.

"It's wonderful to see the youth leaders of the community showing their appreciation for the men and women of public safety," he said. "Seeing these kids reach out to recognize us inspires me and I hope that we inspire them to help others as well."

A police chase through the back streets of Tomball ended peacefully in the suspect's driveway, as officers took the man into custody without incident Jan. 29.

Tomball police said that Ronald F. Toney, 37, of Tomball, fled from Officer C. Burns, after he tried to stop Toney in the 600 block of James Street late that afternoon.

The chase started near the city's public works building, winding its way to McPhail Street, where police say that Toney went westbound until he got to Cherry Street. Toney then allegedly headed south on Cherry, turned right on Belmont until the chase ended in the suspect's driveway on Willowick Street.

"Once he stopped, we did a high risk takedown and he obeyed all our commands," said Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi. "At that point he was cooperative."

Other officers that were on location of an automobile accident near the Tomball Community Center laid spike strips across Cherry Street during the pursuit, in anticipation of Toney heading north on Cherry.

Grassi said the man gave them an odd reason for fleeing.

"When I asked him why he did it he said he didn't have insurance or a driver's license," he said. "So something that would have been a ticket, or at worse a few hours in the Tomball jail turned into a felony evading charge."

According to the Harris County District Clerk website, Toney bonded out of jail Jan. 31, posting a $5,000 bond.

Toney's previous criminal history only shows an infraction for possessing marijuana in 2011. His next court appearance is set for Feb. 18.