by | Published
SAN MARCOS, Texas - In a case that exposed the devastating intersection of sexual predation and the fentanyl crisis gripping communities, a Hays County jury on January 21, 2026, sentenced 29-year-old Izaiah Vela, formerly of Martindale, to 75 years in a Texas prison with no fine.
The punishment followed Vela's conviction on January 15, 2025, for one count of sexual assault of a child. Prosecutors presented evidence that Vela connected with his underage victim via Instagram, where he explicitly acknowledged her minor status. He lured her into meeting by offering free marijuana, then assaulted her while brandishing a firearm—including pressing it against her back—during the attack. In chilling follow-up messages on the platform, Vela admitted to the crime and attempted to arrange another encounter. He later deleted the entire conversation and factory-reset his phone in an apparent effort to cover his tracks before his arrest.
During the punishment phase, the jury heard a broader portrait of Vela as a repeat offender with a criminal history that included three burglary of a motor vehicle convictions and prior prison terms for evading arrest with a vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Evidence also linked him to marijuana dealing around the time of the assault.
The revelations grew even more harrowing when prosecutors detailed Vela's role in flooding Hays County high schools with fentanyl. Just months after the sexual assault, he repeatedly sold counterfeit pills laced with the potent opioid to numerous individuals—many of them teenagers. Among them was a 15-year-old high school sophomore who purchased seven pills from Vela at a discount. She died from fentanyl toxicity on October 1, 2023; her mother discovered her lifeless body the next morning while trying to wake her for school.
Investigators tied Vela to the fatal sale and others through Instagram communications, CashApp records, and FLOCK camera footage. Upon learning of the overdose, Vela deleted his messages with the victim and shuttered the Instagram account he used to peddle the drugs.
Vela was arrested in November 2023 while reporting to his parole officer, as he remained on parole from his firearm conviction at the time.
The trial took place in the 274th District Court under Judge Steel, who accepted the jury's verdicts. Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Daniel Sakaida and Cassidy Story led the prosecution, supported by Victim Assistance Coordinator Sandra Groters, legal assistants Avery Slocum and Cristina Kearbey, and District Attorney’s Office investigators Sgt. Robert Torres and Matthew Grantham.
The sexual assault investigation was spearheaded by the San Marcos Police Department, including Detectives Caitlyn Bennett, Crystal Benavides, Kevin Blackwood, Officer Franco Stewart, and Crime Analyst Patricia Hom. The fentanyl-related probe was conducted by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office team, featuring Deputies Christopher Adams, Andres Vega, Adam Krueger, Detectives Nelson Wray and Chase Fuller, and others including Deputies Paul Mooney, Ian Alcorn, Joshua Larson, Brian Burgdorf, Custodian Kristi White, and Evidence Technician Johnna Martone.
“The defendant preyed on vulnerable minors in Hays County in the worst ways possible,” said Assistant District Attorney Daniel Sakaida. “He saw minors as easy, manipulable clients for his drug sales and as targets for his sexual desires. The jury recognized the damage he inflicted on our community, and they made the right decision to put him away effectively for the rest of his life. Nothing can truly fix the pain left in the defendant’s wake, but this verdict is justice for his victims.”
