A former cafeteria worker at UTMB Health’s Clear Lake Campus has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison in connection with the sexual assault of a patient in her hospital bed.
According to Harris County court records, Cristian Daniel Cruz Herrera, 30, entered a guilty plea to one count of sexual assault.
On Jan. 20, records say he was sentenced to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Herrera was initially charged in Nov. 2023 after a patient accused him of sexually assaulting her while she was hospitalized in late October of that year.
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After Herrera was charged, the victim told KPRC 2 she had been in the hospital for two days to be treated for low potassium before Herrera attacked her.
Herrera delivered her lunch around 12 p.m. on Oct. 26, according to court documents. She asked him for help using the restroom, but the assault quickly followed, records say.
Court documents also claimed Herrera begged her not to tell anyone, but she called for help from a nurse after he left her room.
Herrera was not charged until nearly three weeks after the alleged incident. Records indicated that he confessed to investigators before his arrest.
In a statement from 2023, UTMB said Herrera was immediately terminated by Sodexo—the company contracted to provide food services to the hospital—after the company learned of his confession.
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