EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of child sexual abuse.
Fern Garcia told jurors that at first she thought Fabian Ortega was just sharing his sexual fantasies with her. When she got the photo, she knew better so she called the police.
Garcia was the first witness in the aggravated sexual assault trial of Odessa resident Fabian Andres Ortega, 24. Ortega was indicted in December 2020 on charges alleging he had a toddler perform oral sex on him.
Garcia, a Del Rio resident, told jurors that in March 2020 she met Ortega via the Tinder app. The two regularly exchanged messages over Tinder and via text and the conversations between the two of them became increasingly sexual, she said.
Garcia, who was born a male, but lives her life as a female, told jurors Ortega described himself as being bisexual in their conversations. They met in Del Rio later that month when Ortega was in town to go fishing and “messed around,” she said. Following that encounter, the two continued to text and Snapchat with Ortega sharing both videos and photos of himself masturbating.
Ortega used two different Snapchat accounts, Garcia said. The first had a username of Fabian, the other with the username of Caramel Twisty.
The two discussed getting back together, but Ortega said he’d have to bring a relative, who was a little over 1-year-old. Garcia took that to mean she’d be an inconvenience, but Ortega corrected her, Garcia testified. He said it would be inconvenient because he had a rule that whenever he was with the girl they had to be naked and so all three of them would have to be naked if they got together.
Garcia, who is a registered nurse, said red flags went up immediately and she began to ask open-ended questions. During the course of their conversations, Garcia said Ortega told her he and the girl were always naked when together because he wanted her to learn how to please him and he planned to allow other men to use her sexually as well.
Ortega also told her the girl had already been pleasuring him and he wasn’t worried about her telling anyone because she couldn’t talk yet, Garcia testified.
Because Snapchat informs people when their conversations are saved and because the conversations are deleted within 24 hours, Garcia said she began using her tablet to take pictures of the conversations. She testified she purposely asked him if he had ever videotaped or photographed the acts in order to gain evidence against him.
Ortega sent her a picture of a young girl with what he said was semen in her mouth and she immediately took a picture of it with her tablet, Garcia said. The picture only showed the bottom portion of the girl’s face, but he identified the girl as his relative, she said.
The following day, Garcia testified she reached out to either the Odessa Police Department or the Midland Police Department to make a report, but was unsuccessful. She then reached out to the Del Rio Police Department, who put her in touch with the FBI. She shared her evidence with them and later with the Ector County Sheriff’s Office. She also relinquished her phone and tablet to the authorities and gave them permission to search both.
Garcia told Assistant Ector County District Attorney Melissa Rayne she never indicated to Ortega she was sexually interested in children or that she thought sex with children was appropriate. She also told Rayne it was always Ortega who initiated the conversations about such.
Ortega’s defense attorneys, Violet White and Jason Leach, waived their right to give an opening statement. During White’s brief cross-examination of Garcia, Garcia testified she believes the girl in the photo is about 1-year-old. She also testified she believes she was texting with Ortega under both the Fabian and the Caramel Twisty Snapchat accounts.
Judge John Shrode of the 358th District Court is presiding over the trial.
