‘Good old-fashioned punishment’: Former Boise restaurant owner sentenced for sex crime

NAMPA (Idaho Statesman) — Wearing khaki pants and a navy-tan jacket embroidered with a Los Angeles logo, Jose Fabrizio Sanchez Vazquez entered the Canyon County Courthouse on Tuesday with the support of family and friends.

The former owner of a well-known Nampa food truck and Boise restaurant was convicted of a felony after he admitted to sexually assaulting a teenage girl who used to work for him, impregnating her in the process. Now, he would face sentencing for his actions.

“I realize that you came in there today hopeful that I would be giving you a different sentence,” 3rd District Judge Randall Grove told Sanchez Vazquez. “My intention here is not to crush your spirit, but to convey to you and to others the absolute seriousness of a crime like this.”

Sanchez Vazquez’s Boise-based private attorney, Michaela Adams, asked Grove to place her client on a rider. The typically yearlong sentencing option allows a judge to retain jurisdiction over a defendant’s case instead of having the Idaho Department of Correction do it.

The prosecution asked for 20 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after five years, and that was what Grove handed down.

Adams argued that a prison sentence could delay Sanchez Vazquez’s sex offender treatment until the year of his release, while a rider would place him into an immediate program, but the judge was not persuaded by that argument.

“I take full accountability for my actions,” Sanchez Vazquez told the judge. “I’m in God’s hands and I’m in your hands.”

Even though Sanchez Vazquez was probably ready to enter into a rehabilitative program, Grove said he was deciding against it. In addition to the sentence of 20 years fixed, five indeterminate, Sanchez Vazquez will have to pay a $5,000 civil penalty that will go toward the victim.

In exchange for the Sanchez Vazquez agreement that he’d plead guilty to felony lewd conduct with a minor under 16, the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed two remaining felony charges against him. Another felony charge of lewd conduct was also dismissed in Ada County.

No matter how sorry Sanchez Vazquez might be, Grove said that there are certain offenses society isn’t willing to tolerate, and that to “deter others” he needed to “make an example” out of Sanchez Vazquez.

“It’s good old-fashioned punishment,” Grove added.

‘The kind of decisions that ruin lives’

Sanchez Vazquez was initially arrested by the Boise Police Department in April at what was then his Boise restaurant, La Garnacha Que Apapacha.

Police learned that the sex crimes occurred over several months in 2023, and after being questioned by law enforcement, Sanchez Vazquez admitted to having sex with the teenager in Nampa, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Prosecutors then filed charges against him in Canyon County as well.

Back in March, the now almost 17-year-old victim arrived at the Nampa Family Justice Center seeking help for her then-unborn child, according to the affidavit. Sanchez Vazquez initially told police that he “never knew” the girl was a minor. The girl had given Sanchez Vazquez a fake identification card that showed she was older, but Grove pointed out that it still showed the girl was underage.

“It’s your responsibility as an adult, more than 20 years older than her, to look out for her, to help her make better decisions,” Grove said. “Instead, what did you do? You encouraged probably the worst decision that she has ever made in her life up to this point — perhaps the worst decision that she will make in her entire life.

“These are the kind of decisions that ruin lives.”

For the next 20 years, Sanchez Vazquez is prohibited from contacting the victim, and he’ll be required to pay child support until their child turns 18.