Breaking: Former UFC Star Cain Velasquez Setenced to 5 Years in Prison
Cain Velasquez has been sentenced to five years in prison.
On Monday, Velasquez returned to the Santa Clara County Superior Court where Judge Arthur Bocanegra handed down the sentence stemming from a shooting that resulted in the MMA star being charged with felony assault, gun charges, and the most serious, attempted murder. The prosecution was asking for 25 years to life.
Ian Cull of @NBCBayArea was the first to report the sentencing.
Upon his arrest shortly after the incident in February 2022, Velasquez spent eight months behind bars which will count towards his five-year sentence. Multiple bail requests were denied until Judge Bocanegra granted him his release on a $1 million bond that November.
Since then, Velasquez has continued to work and live life as a beloved member of his community. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. However, there is a silver lining.
Velasquez not only gets credit for the eight months he spent behind bars but all the time he’s been under house arrest since then. That’s essentially three years of credit, meaning at most, Velasquez will spend two years in jail. With good behavior, it’s conceivable that Velasquez could be a free man again in 2026.
Cain Velasquez attempted to shoot the man who allegedly molested his son
According to prosecutors, the former UFC champion went on a shooting spree targeting a man who allegedly molested one of Velasquez’s young children at a daycare center. The accused child molester, Harry Goularte, lived at his mother’s home daycare, Patty’s Childcare, in San Martin.
Velasquez was accused of taking the law into his own hands when he chased Goularte’s pickup truck and drove 100 miles per hour from Morgan Hill to San Jose on Feb. 28, 2022, per prosecutors.
Velasquez, 42, of Gilroy, pleaded “no contest” to attempted murder last summer.
Judge Benjamin Williams gave Goularte a June 2 jury trial date in January. He faces one felony count of lewd acts with a minor after he was accused of molesting Velasquez’s then-four-year-old son.
Since his arrest in 2022, Goularte has been out on bail with GPS monitoring.
