Lubbock man charged in 2017 home invasion rape case sentenced to 45 years in prison
A 33-year-old Lubbock man was sentenced to 45 years in prison after he admitted to sexually assaulting and raping two women in separate attacks a day apart six years ago.
Thomas Lee Ponce pleaded guilty last week to three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of burglary of a habitation with intent of sexual assault.
The charges were filed in two separate indictments involving two separate victims.
He faced an enhanced punishment range of 15 years to life in prison.
As part of his plea deal with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for each count, which will run concurrently.
He will also have to register as a sex offender for life if he is released from prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.
Ponce entered his plea via video conference from the Lubbock County Detention Center, where he has been held since June 17, 2017.
The case against Ponce resulted from a Lubbock police sexual assault investigation that began on June 14, 2017 in the 2400 Block of Mac Davis Lane.
A woman told police she escaped from her apartment after she was raped by an intruder, an arrest warrant states.
The woman told police the man, who investigators later identified as Ponce, approached her as she finished exercising at her apartment complex's onsite gym, greeted her then struck her in the left eye. She said the man got behind her and threatened to cut her throat if she didn't cooperate.
The woman said her attacker forced her to lead him into her apartment where he bound her with an electrical cord, blindfolded her then ransacked her apartment after saying he needed a condom, saying they were going to have "consensual sex."
She said the man raped her repeatedly before falling asleep. She was able to gain the man's trust by making multiple trips to the kitchen alone and started cooking. While the man slept, the woman unlocked her front door, ran to the complex's office and asked an employee to call the police. The man briefly chased her before running away.
A security camera video from the apartment complex showed Ponce running out of the building's west-side exit the same time Lubbock EMS arrived at the scene.
While investigating the case, detectives learned Lubbock County Sheriff's investigators identified Ponce as a suspect in a separate sexual assault case from the day before.
In that case, Ponce admitted to breaking into a woman's home and sexually assaulting her.
According to the warrant, the woman identified distinct tattoos on her attacker that resembled Ponce's.
That separate investigation resulted in the charge of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault and one of the aggravated sexual assault charges against him.
A day after the assault, then-Lubbock police Chief Greg Stevens asked for the public's help to find Ponce. Investigators got a tip he was in the area of First Street and University Avenue. Officers searched the neighborhood and found Ponce, who ran away, but was caught near the 2600 block of First Street.
Ponce's criminal history
Ponce was last arrested in March 2016 after he was accused of abducting his ex-girlfriend's sister at gunpoint at a home in the 2300 block of First Street. In that case, investigators believe Ponce, armed with a pistol, was searching for his ex-girlfriend and forced his way into a home with three people, including his ex-girlfriend's sister, inside. The ex-girlfriend was not at the home and no one there knew where she was, a police report states.
After threatening to shoot everyone, Ponce struck one person in the head with his pistol, shot at a wall and abducted his ex-girlfriend's sister to help him find her.
Lubbock police responded to the area and found Ponce, who ran away. Police chased him into a mobile home park in the 2300 block of Auburn Street where they found him hiding under a mobile home.
He was arrested and booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on multiple charges. He was indicted on a first-degree felony count of burglary of a habitation with intent of aggravated assault.
However, that case was refiled and Ponce pleaded guilty in January 2017 to class A misdemeanor charges of unlawful carrying of a weapon and evading arrest and an unrelated misdemeanor charge of burglary of a vehicle. He was sentenced to 300 days in jail and had a jail credit of 317 days, court records state. Class A misdemeanors carry a punishment of up to a year in jail.
He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated second-degree felony count of fraudulent use of identifying information and was sentenced to two years in prison, which was used to enhance his punishment in the sexual assault cases. He was released on mandatory supervision in March 2017, court records state.
Prosecutor Barron Slack described Ponce's cases as one of the worst he's seen, saying the evidence showed Ponce had no regard for anyone.
"The willingness to seek out a victim you don't know, assault that person, be alone with that person, break into that person's house, beat them up, sexually assault them, that's not that common, this guy was very willing and ready to do that and did do that," he said. "He demonstrated a heightened desire to commit violence, to do kind of audacious things and break into places, a real disregard for anything or anybody, any sexual assault is heinous, there were particular facts here that were maybe especially so."
He said the victims in both cases were satisfied with Ponce's punishment.
"They're very pleased with the outcome, not having to go to trial but still having him get a very lengthy, probably unsurvivable prison sentence," he said. "That's what we want."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Thomas Ponce sentenced to 45 years
