‘Extremely alarming’: Boise restaurateur charged with sex crime. Teenage girl is pregnant
A well-known Boise restaurateur was charged with a felony sex crime and arrested Wednesday by the Boise Police Department.
Jose Fabrizio Sanchez Vazquez faces a charge of lewd conduct with a child under 16, according to online jail and court records. Boise police spokesperson Haley Williams told the Idaho Statesman by email that they began investigating Sanchez Vazquez in March and learned that the alleged sex crimes occurred over several months in 2023.
Williams said Sanchez Vazquez was arrested in the 7700 block of West Overland Road, which appears to mean at his Boise restaurant, La Garnacha Que Apapacha.
At a hearing Thursday, 4th District Judge David Manweiler set Sanchez Vazquez’s bond at $200,000, falling in line with the prosecution’s request. Sanchez Vazquez’s attorney argued that he had “significant ties to the community” and asked bail to be set at $50,000.
Shawn Kelley, a legal intern for the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, said Sanchez Vazquez admitted to having sexual relations with the victim, who is 15 years old, on several occasions. The victim, who used to work for his restaurant, is 28 weeks pregnant and Sanchez Vazquez is the father, according to Kelley.
Kelley said text messages discovered by law enforcement between Sanchez Vazquez and the girl showed that she asked Sanchez Vazquez for child support, to which he denied that he was the father. When the victim said Sanchez Vazquez was the only person she’d been with, he agreed to put her back on his company’s payroll, even though she didn’t work there anymore, according to prosecutors.
La Garnacha Que Apapacha started as a Nampa food truck in 2020 before opening as a brick-and-mortar restaurant at the Boise Spectrum last summer. The popular restaurant specializes in birria, a traditional meat stew often used in tacos. Garnacha Que Apapacha recently revealed on social media that in addition to the Boise restaurant, it planned to return to Nampa with a new food truck in May.
If convicted, Sanchez Vazquez could face up to life in prison, according to state law.
“The conduct here is extremely alarming because he used his position as an employer to take advantage of someone he admitted to doubting whether or not she was an adult,” Kelley said.
Reporter Michael Deeds contributed.