2023
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Sugar Land man receives 57 years for sexual abuse of children Staff Reports On December 18, a Fort Bend County jury convicted Jose Florentino Ortiz, 51 of one charge of continuous sexual Abuse of a young child and two charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and stemming from the 1990’s and sentenced him 25 years, 16 years, and 16 years, respectively.
Jose Florentino Ortiz, 51, of Sugar Land, was sentenced to 57 years in prison for continuous abuse of a young child and aggravated sexual assault of a young child. Courtesy Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office
268th District Court Judge Steve Rogers ordered the sentences to run consecutively, requiring the Sugar Land man to serve 57 years in prison. Ortiz will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least 49 years, according to a news release from the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office. Evidence presented by child abuse prosecutors Alycia Curtis and Craig Priesmeyer revealed that Ortiz began sexually abusing a girl in the mid-1990’s when she was approximately five years old. He continued his abuse against her for over a decade before moving on to the girl’s younger sister and a third female family member several years later. The jury heard testimony that during the Sheriff’s Office investigation in the summer of 2020, Ortiz confessed to molesting two of the three victims and described himself as having a “pedophile mind.” “The scope of sexual abuse in this case, against three separate victims, was horrific,” Curtis said in the release. “But the girls showed incredible bravery coming forward and facing their abuser in court.” When Ortiz testified at trial, he disavowed his confession and accused the victims of making up and exaggerating the sexual abuse, according to the release. “This is what you get when we catch you abusing children in this county,” District Attorney Brian Middleton said. “I am proud of my prosecutors, the judge, and the jury for working hard to ensure that this man can never harm another child in his lifetime. I am especially proud of the young survivors who held the defendant accountable. We should all be so brave.” The Sheriff’s Office’s Sgt. Michael Alexander led the investigation, which included the assistance of other agencies including Harris Health Systems and Child Advocates of Fort Bend. Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child is a first-degree felony punishable by 25 to 99 years or life in prison with no parole eligibility. Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child is also a first-degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years or life in prison. Both offenses require lifetime registration as a sex offender.
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Fort Bend economic development council could dissolve next year By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
An organization that for nearly four decades has worked to promote economic development in Fort Bend County could soon be going out of business. The executive committee of the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council, formed in 1986, voted in early November to present an outside consulting firm’s recommendation to disband the organization, at its next full board meeting, scheduled for January 10. TIP Strategies, the Austinbased consulting firm, was
The Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council, whose offices are in the Fluor complex in Sugar Land, might dissolve next year depending on a January vote by its board. File photo by Ken Fountain
engaged by both the Council and Fort Bend County on a split-cost basis to conduct a study on how the county could best promote economic development in the wake of the Commissioners Court’s 2022 decision to the county’s own economic development department. “For nearly four decades, the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council has supported private-sector development and publicsector initiatives that have set the stage for its current success and the future of Fort Bend County. In early 2022, Fort Bend County created an economic development
department, and since that time, our teams have been working to redefine roles and expectations,” the organization said in statement that went out to membership after the executive committee’s decision. “Recently, an economic development consultant engaged by the County met with our Executive Committee and introduced two pathways for the future of our organization: (1) to reorient the FBEDC, change the board composition and staff, or (2) create an entirely
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New mother’s milk collection site opens at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital Community Reports Hailey Stanford, a registered nurse, has a sticker on her water bottle that reads “Milk Maker,” and she says she’s proud of that sticker. Stanford, a mother of two, has three freezers at home to store her excess breastmilk. The mother/ baby nurse at Houston Methodist Childbirth Center at Sugar Land recently became the first mother to donate breastmilk at Fort Bend County’s newest milk collection site. Her donation of 1,740 ounces nearly filled the donation refrigerator, according to a news release from the hospital. “When I first heard our Childbirth Center was going to become a milk collection site, I had two words for my boss: take it,” Stanford said. She breastfed her oldest son for 14 months and was excited to do the same for her second-born. He was born with a complete bilateral cleft lip and palate, which left him with the inability to breastfeed. “I had to pump to feed my child but when you pump exclusively, your body doesn’t respond to your baby’s needs, so there was an immediate oversupply. I knew I wanted to donate my milk to help other mothers and I’m honored to be the first donor at our hospital,” Stanford said. “I understand how disappointing it can be to want to breastfeed your baby and not be able to, so I wanted to help ease some of that stress.” The demand for human donor milk in hospital neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) continues to rise, and now lactating mothers can drop off their breastmilk donations at Houston Methodist Childbirth Center at Sugar Land. The collection site will be serviced by the Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin. Women who are currently breastfeeding infants under 1 year old are eligible to be screened at no charge to become human milk donors. The collection site at Houston Methodist Childbirth Center at Sugar Land is the only Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin collection site in Fort Bend County. “We are thrilled and proud to offer this service to moms and babies in our
Hailey Stanford, a registered nurse, donates breastmilk at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital. Courtesy Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital
community,” said Theresa Walters, MSN, RN, RNCNIC, NICU Manager at the center. “We are dedicated to the health and growth of our smallest community members, and this is another impactful way we can meet their needs.” One of the largest suppliers of donor human milk to hospitals across Texas and
in 22 states, the Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin fills prescriptions written by physicians for the most fragile babies who need the life-giving and sustaining nutrition of donor human milk to thrive. Although any woman can donate her breast milk regardless of where she lives, the new milk collection site
at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital will make it easier for donors in Fort Bend County and surrounding areas to donate this scarce resource that has life-saving impact. “Our reputation for providing safe, nutritionally-analyzed, and labeled donor human milk to hospitals and outpatients has
led to tremendous growth in demand—a challenge and also a success,” said Kim Updegrove, executive director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin. “By partnering with Houston Methodist Childbirth Center at Sugar Land we will raise our
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