EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — A 22-year-old El Paso man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges in connection with a 2025 attack on a woman at a smoke shop in Northeast El Paso.
According to court records, Hekter Enrique Carreto pleaded guilty on Friday to three felony offenses, including aggravated kidnapping with intent to violate or abuse sexually, aggravated sexual assault, and aggravated robbery.
Court records show Carreto was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for those three felonies, receiving an additional 20-year sentence for burglary of a habitation intend other felony and sexual assault of a child tied to a separate November 2024 attack, a 20-year sentence for burglary of a habitation in a January 2025 break-in, and a 10-year sentence for harassment of a public servant. All sentences will run concurrently.
“This Defendant caused profound trauma to multiple victims and demonstrated an exceptionally dangerous and escalating pattern of violence,” District Attorney James Montoya said. “We are proud of the swift work of our team to bring this case to resolution. El Paso is safer with this Defendant removed from our community.”
As KFOX14/CBS4 previously reported, on March 28, 2025, Carreto, who was 21-years-old at the time, entered a smoke shop located at 9155 Dyer Dr. and violently sexually assaulted a woman, took money, and then dragged the woman out, according to the El Paso Police Department.
Police believe Carreto then ran away, leaving the woman unconscious behind the business.
The woman suffered an open skull fracture and a spinal fracture.
After an investigation, police obtained footage from inside the business and identified Carreto as the prime suspect and arrested him.
According to an arrest affidavit previously obtained by KFOX14/CBS4, the video showed Carreto walking inside the smoke shop and violently attacking the woman who was behind the cash register counting some money.
Carreto then slammed the woman’s head against the floor at least nine times, causing her to lose consciousness, the document stated.
The video showed the woman not moving with blood pooling in the area of the head.
Carreto then grabbed some of the money from the cash register and put it inside his clothing, according to the document.
Carreto then dragged the woman to the back of the store and removed her clothes while she was unconscious, the court document stated.
According to the court document, Carreto then removed his clothes and began to sexually assault the woman while she was on the floor.
At the time of the robbery, Carreto was on bond after being accused of spitting on El Paso police officers following an arrest for public intoxication in January 2025, according to the district attorney’s office.
Additionally, the arrest affidavit also stated that investigators learned that Carreto had a sexual assault of a child charge from Nov. 2024.
When Carreto was arrested, he admitted to investigators that, upon entering the business, he physically and sexually assaulted the woman and took money, the affidavit stated.
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