By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A former Del Rio Police Department detective charged with sexual assault of a child was back in court Monday.
The criminal cases against Joshua Garcia, 33, were among nearly 100 cases on the docket of the 83rd Judicial District Court Monday. Garcia attended the docket call, sitting in the rear of the audience gallery for most of the morning until his case was called.
83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena began calling cases on the docket just after 9 a.m. Monday.
Garcia’s case was the sixty-first to be called, and when Cadena announced the case, Garcia’s attorney, Adam Setra of the Setra Law Firm of San Antonio, responded he was present to represent Garcia. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Esquivel announced he was representing the state.
In response to Cadena’s question about where the case stood, Setra said if several unspecified pre-trial matters could be resolved, there
would be no need for additional settings.
Cadena said he would return to the case later in the docket.
Just after noon and minutes before Cadena recessed court for a lunch break, Setra requested a conference in chambers with Esquivel and the judge. Cadena granted Setra’s request.
After Cadena reconvened the court at 1 p.m., he again called the Garcia case and asked Setra what motions he planned to file.
Setra replied he is trying to set up a meeting with District Attorney Suzanne West before he makes any decision on filing additional motions in the case.
Cadena said he would reset the case for his June docket, at 9 a.m. on June 22, and told Setra if he planned to file any motions, he would need to file them before that date.
Setra and Garcia then left the courthouse together.
Garcia was fired from the Del Rio Police Department in late October 2025 following his indictment on four criminal counts.
According to paperwork on file in the case and reviewed by The 830 Times, Garcia was charged by indictment with the offenses of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony; possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony; possession/promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child, a state jail felony; and official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor.
The indictment reads that “on or about the 1st of January 2021” Garcia allegedly had sexual intercourse with “Child Victim 1, a pseudonym, a child who is younger than 17 years of age.”
The second count of the indictment alleges Garcia “intentionally and knowingly possess(ed) visual material that depicted and which the defendant knew visually depicted a child who was younger than 18 years of age . . . engaging in sexual conduct.” The count also notes that Garcia is alleged to have possessed fewer than 100 visual depictions of a child.
The third count of the indictment alleges Garcia “intentionally and knowingly possess(ed) visual material” that depicted “the genitals . . . of an unclothed or partially clothed child younger than 18 years of age . . . and said visual material appealed to the prurient interest in sex and had no serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
The fourth count of the indictment alleges Garcia “on or about the 26th of January 2024 subjected Child Victim #1 to sexual harassment by making unwelcome sexual advances, knowing that the advances were not welcome by the complainant, submission to which was expressly or implicitly made a term or condition of the exercise or enjoyment by the complainant of a right or privilege.”
The indictment also notes that when he allegedly committed the offenses, “(Garcia) was acting under color of his employment as a public servant, namely a detective with the Del Rio Police Department.”
Garcia was magistrated following his arrest on Oct. 27, 2025, by Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole, who set $25,000 bond on each of the four counts for a total bond amount of $100,000.
According to a press release issued by the Del Rio Police Department the day after Garcia was terminated from his position with the department, the indictment was the result of an investigation initiated in April 2025 by the Texas Rangers and the DRPD.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
