A former Webb County corrections officer who targeted women inside the jail he was supposed to guard is headed to federal prison for two decades. Yesterday, a federal judge sentenced Hector Humberto Rodriguez Jr. to 20 years after he admitted sexually assaulting two women being held at the Webb County jail in January 2022. Prosecutors say the assaults happened on separate occasions that month, after the women were removed from their cells and isolated. The punishment follows a guilty plea entered late last year and closes a federal case authorities say laid bare a serious abuse of power by an officer sworn to protect the people in his custody.
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña ordered Rodriguez to serve 240 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and required him to register as a sex offender, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas. At sentencing, the court described Rodriguez's conduct as predatory and said he posed a danger to the community.
The FBI's San Antonio office publicly highlighted the outcome on X, writing that "Those entrusted with protecting others are held to the highest standards" and calling Rodriguez's conduct "a grave abuse of power and a betrayal of public trust," a line attributed to Acting Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran. The X post laid out the sentence and noted the FBI's role in the investigation, according to FBI San Antonio.
What prosecutors say happened
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez assaulted two different women on two different days in January 2022 while he was on duty at the jail. Each time, they say, he removed the victim from her cell, took her to a secluded area of the facility and used force, threats and coercion to carry out the sexual assaults. Both women later identified Rodriguez as the guard who attacked them, officials said, citing a U.S. Attorney's Office filing that accompanied his guilty plea.
Investigation and prosecution
The investigation was handled by the FBI and the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General, and the case was prosecuted in Laredo by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon Scott Bowling and Leslie Ann Cortez, according to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News. Rodriguez had been in custody since his arrest in August 2024, the outlet reported.
Legal implications
Rodriguez pleaded guilty on Dec. 30, 2024, to counts prosecutors described as violations of the victims' civil rights, offenses that carry potentially lengthy federal penalties. The sentence imposed by Judge Saldaña, including the prison term, supervised release and sex-offender registration, reflects the court's conclusion that Rodriguez abused his authority under color of law while on duty.
Rodriguez will remain in federal custody while officials arrange his transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility. Authorities said the sentence is meant to send a clear message about protecting people in detention and holding officials accountable when they exploit the power of the badge. Local victim-advocacy groups did not immediately return requests for comment.
