Man charged with intoxication manslaughter — six prior DWIs
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
Forty-year-old Carlos Manuel Garcia Sancho picked up his first DWI more than 22 years ago, five months after turning 18.
This past January he collected his sixth DWI, based on records filed with the Hidalgo County District Clerk. The six are spread across two decades and involve multiple courts, multiple public defenders (court-appointed attorneys), and multiple DAs (three).
Suffice it to say, Carlos Manuel Garcia Sancho has been a thorn in this county’s legal system going on almost a quarter of a century: DWIs, assaults, robberies, drug arrests, agg assaults, violation of a protective order, terroristic threat, assaulting a cop.
Now, Garcia has also been charged with intoxication manslaughter after a March 26th DWI-related crash in which he was involved led to the death of a 22-year-old San Juan resident, Roberto Rios.
At the time of the fatal wreck, Garcia’s blood-alcohol level was close to .30 (0.29), over three times the legal limit.
Allegedly, he was in a road-rage dispute with another driver, Robert Victor Sotullo, when he plowed head on into Rios’s 2020 GMC SUV.
Sotullo was subsequently arrested in connection with the fatality two days after the crash, admitting to police that he was trying to speed away from Garcia, exceeding 100 mph at one point in the chase, before he saw the crash in his rear-view mirror. The two had a prior history, he told police.
Looking over Garcia’s criminal record, rap sheet, dating back to 2001, it’s hard to figure out how the guy was still on the street March 26th, driving, drinking, popping opioids with a suspended DL, getting into a roadrage dispute, snuffing out an innocent life because he was too drunk to drive. Allegedly.
Obviously, not having a DL was of no concern, no worry. Nor was the fact that he had two DWI indictments hanging over his head dating back to just the month prior.
The state, the county, could give him all the probation they wanted, all the community service time, even some prison time for assaulting a cop in 2011, with more probated time added to his long list of sentences, but nothing had yet made him mend his ways.
In Texas, a conviction for three or more DWIs can land a person in state prison for up to 10 years. Yet, even though Garcia had been indicted for two DWIs by a state grand jury this February, for two alleged incidents – October of 2023 and January of 2024 – he was still out and about March 26th, able to allegedly plow his truck into an SUV, killing a 22-year-old who was in the wrong place, the wrong time, near the intersection of FM 495 and Raul Longoria when the collision occurred at approximately 6 p.m.
Low Bond
The family of the 22-year-old victim, Roberto Rios, has to process their loss, but they’re having trouble, too, processing the low jail bond handed to Carlos Manuel Garcia by San Juan Municipal Court Judge Rick Perez -- $75,000.
Early this week, he was still in county jail with a broken leg.
In Texas, the primary purpose of bail is to ensure a defendant’s appearance in court, not to punish them with pre-trial detention. Judges consider factors like the severity of the charges, criminal history, and ties to the community when setting bail.
Judge Perez didn’t answer a phone call Tuesday, but with so many criminal charges filed against Garcia dating back more than 20 years, the one thing that he has proven good at is showing up at court when his case is called, with a public defender, or two, in tow.
The other thing Garcia’s proven good at is ignoring the law. How else can one explain the fact that he was (allegedly) driving drunk March 26, at speeds in excess of 100 mph, with some level of opioids in his system just for that added buzz, chasing down a guy he knew in road-rage fashion, knowing that he had two DWI indictments still hanging over his head?
Meanwhile, the other driver also arrested as part of the incident, Robert Victor Sotullo, who was reportedly fleeing from Garcia when the fatal crash occurred, got a bond worth $250,000.
The Advance is working to find out which judge arraigned Sotullo.
The victim’s family has since gone public, alleging to at least two media outlets that the only reason Garcia got such a low bond -- $75,000 – is because he’s got “connections.”
With exactly whom, allegedly, the family hasn’t yet said.
So if Garcia can find the money to post the $75K bond ($7,500 in cash should do it), with some collateral backing the balance, or a good signature, then who’s to say that he won’t go right back to the bottle, or beer, to the opioid pill bottle, and to the closest truck he can find.
Time to hit the road once again?
If setting a bail bond includes looking at one’s criminal history, that of Carlos Manuel Garcia has a long story to tell. None of it good, one can easily argue looking at his record, dating back to 2001.
By the way, the two DWI indictments he had outstanding dating back to January 2024 and October 2023, he was bonded out on each of those with a $25,000 surety bond.