SEGUIN, Texas – A child sex abuse defendant who has avoided going to trial for years by claiming he is too sick to make court appearances was rearrested Friday after violating conditions of his bond.
Ruben Castro Jr., 65, was taken into custody just before noon after briefly appearing in Guadalupe County district court.
Castro, who appeared in a wheelchair while wearing a blanket, failed to appear for pretrial check-ins from October 2022 through this month. Castro’s failure to appear is a violation of his bond conditions, court records show.
The defendant also failed to provide medical documents to back up his health issue claims.
The court increased Castro’s bond to $500,000, records show.
Castro was taken into custody moments after the judge granted a motion from Castro’s attorney to remove herself from the case.
The attorney told the court she could no longer effectively represent Castro.
The rearrest of Castro follows a probe from KSAT Investigates last week that raised doubts about whether he is too unwell to stand trial.
Castro was indicted in October 2020 on three felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and five felony counts of indecent sexual contact with a child after two of his step-granddaughters said he sexually abused them at a residence in McQueeney on and off for a decade.
The accusers reported the accusations to law enforcement as adults.
The case, however, has not gone to trial. Instead, the case has been hampered by six canceled hearings and claims in recent years from Castro’s defense counsel that the defendant is not healthy enough to competently stand trial.
A prosecutor last month told Castro’s accusers that her office had subpoenaed the defendant’s medical records in June, which showed he had an acute stomach ulcer in November 2022.
Castro was recommended for surgery. Tests determined he was too weak to have the procedure, according to the prosecutor, as she summarized the records.
She added that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed Castro had three strokes, needed extensive rehabilitation services and is experiencing cognitive issues.
Last month, the prosecutor told the women that Castro’s loved ones were “just trying to keep him comfortable as possible before he passes away.”
“That moment I questioned, ‘Why are we holding on to medical records from three years ago?’” said Rubie Rodriguez.
After the call with the prosecutor, Rodriguez tracked down Castro and gathered pictures and video of him outside of a manufactured home on San Antonio’s Northeast Side and a motel near the residence.
In one clip, Castro was seen standing along a wall outside the residence talking to a woman in the street.
In another clip, Castro appeared to be working on the deck at the residence.
A third clip showed Castro outside of a motel standing near a U-Haul truck.
Footage shared with KSAT on Friday showed Castro walking outside of the motel.
Castro’s wife, Melissa, briefly spoke with KSAT on Friday after her husband was taken into custody.
She said her husband was innocent and that they did not exaggerate his health issues to the court.
“Anger and jealousy within the family,” Melissa Castro said. “And I never knew it could be so ugly.”
“These allegations come from nothing but the truth from what we endured as children,” Rodriguez said, referring to allegations made by Rodriguez and her cousin, Sierra Rios. “The only reason we waited for so long is because we only thought it happened to one of us.”
“We are angry with the way our case has been handled, with the way it’s been delayed and the way we’ve been talked to as victims,” said Rios.
Rios said prosecutors offered Friday to have the case taken over by the State Attorney General’s Office in a move that would likely further delay Ruben Castro Jr.‘s trial.
As of Friday evening, a date for Castro’s next court appearance is not immediately clear.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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