Moses Lake man sentenced for molestation

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man was sentenced in Grant County Superior Court for molesting his daughters.

David Vieyra Garcia, 42, was sentenced to about 10 years in prison by Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan Sperline on Tuesday.

Garcia pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation in the second degree and two counts of incest in the first degree on Dec. 9.

Garcia started molesting his daughters when they were in first grade, according to the Moses Lake police report. The incidents occurred when the girls where staying with him. At the time, Garcia was divorced from his wife, Caroline Hofstetter.

The girls reported the incidents to their mother, who called Garcia, according to the police report. Hofstetter told officers Garcia admitted the crimes to her and asked her not to tell police, but she did and cooperated with investigators, according to the report.

Hofstetter said she doesn’t think the sentence is long enough. She was married to Garcia for 11 years before getting a divorce and had no idea the abuse was going on.

“In 10 years, he’ll be 52,” she said. “He’ll get out and do this again. There’s no doubt in my mind. He’s very, very good at what he does … (Child molesters) shouldn’t get another chance. These girls have to live with this for the rest of their life.”

She said Garcia would tell the girls, if they told anyone about the abuse he would go to jail. He would tell the younger daughter, who was adopted, Hofstetter would take her back to her parents if she talked about the incidents.

“He got to the point where he played mind games with them,” she said. “I have a feeling this happened (when Garcia lived) in Mexico. He had a daughter there and he was not to have anything to do with that little girl. That should have been a red flag.”