Ex-con parole eligible just 4 months after being sentenced to 12 years for fleeing crash
HOUSTON - We first reported on Oscar Soto in a Breaking Bond report back in 2022.
He was an ex-con on probation, but still got a $15,000 bond in a deadly failure to stop and render aid.
"It's heartbreaking to live every day knowing you don't have your brother with you," said Patricia Montemayor, Arthur Montemayor's sister. "My kids adored him. They always saw him as a second father figure."
When he was 11-years-old, Gael Cavazos wrote a letter to Oscar Soto, the man who left his 39-year-old uncle Arthur Montemayor to die alone on the side of the road.
"Now, living this horrible life without my uncle, having to deal with all this grief and sadness you caused," Gael said. "This is not a nice feeling to have a hole as big as a basketball in your heart."
In June 2022, Soto crashed his truck into Arthur's motorcycle.
"He committed a crime. He ran the red light, and he just left him there," Patricia said.
Patricia was in court last November when Soto plead guilty to failure to stop and render aid.
"He wasn't remorseful, he wasn't affected by what happened," said Patricia. "He was just there with a grin on his face."
"Four months after he gets sentenced to 12 years, he's already in the parole review process," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "Right now, as we speak, he is eligible to be considered for parole."
How's that even possible?
"Because it's labeled as a non-violent crime, you only have to do one-fourth of your sentence," Kahn said. "That includes the time you serve in county jail, plus your good time credits. All he had to do was get three years' worth of time served and good time to be parole eligible."
"Not even four months later, and he's up for parole? That's something atrocious," Patricia said.
It's not justice as far as she's concerned,
"This is why a lot of repeat offenders get a free pass, and they'll go out into society and do it again, hurt someone else," said Patricia.