LOS ANGELES — A Southern California adolescence football trainer charged with killing a 13-year-old boy ultimate month has additionally been accused of assaulting no less than two different teenagers lately, prosecutors stated.
Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino is charged with killing Oscar Omar Hernandez after which dumping his frame alongside a roadside, the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace stated. Garcia-Aquino in short seemed in courtroom Tuesday, the place his arraignment used to be scheduled for April 30.
Garcia-Aquino, 43, used to be charged with one rely of homicide, with the particular circumstance allegation of homicide all the way through the fee or tried fee of lewd acts with a kid. The fees make him eligible for the dying penalty or existence in jail with out the potential for parole.
Prosecutors on Tuesday additionally charged him with a sexual offense or lewd act upon a kid involving a teen round 14 or 15 years previous at Garcia-Aquino’s then-home within the LA suburb of Sylmar in 2022; and one criminal rely of attack with the intent to dedicate a sexual offense involving a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, in February 2024.
The 13-year-old boy used to be reported lacking through his circle of relatives March 30 after he boarded a teach to talk over with the trainer in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles, prosecutors stated Monday. His frame used to be discovered a number of days later in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles.
The boy’s mom, Gladys Bautista, advised ABC 7 in Los Angeles that her son used to be a cheerful child who beloved football.
“He didn’t wish to be handled like an animal. That used to be my son,” Bautista stated all the way through a information convention ultimate week.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated in an e-mail to The Related Press that Garcia-Aquino is from El Salvador and that they have got asked native regulation enforcement to inform ICE earlier than he’s launched and hang him till he can also be positioned into federal custody for deportation.
California’s sanctuary regulation typically prohibits cooperation between regulation enforcement and immigration officers however makes exceptions for the ones convicted of positive violent crimes. Requested if it could notify ICE if Garcia-Aquino is launched, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division stated in an e-mail: “The suspect’s immigration standing isn’t a part of the investigation.”
The LA County Public Defender’s Workplace, which is representing Garcia-Aquino, presented condolences to the sufferer’s circle of relatives.
“We can be reviewing the proof on this case and can vigorously protect in opposition to those severe fees,” Angela Cheung with the administrative center’s Primary Circumstances Unit stated in a remark. “Right now, we don’t have any additional remark.”
Garcia-Aquino used to be a adolescence shuttle trainer with the Storm Valley boys football membership within the Sylmar house, and labored with other age divisions, Sheriff Robert Luna stated. The Related Press left telephone and textual content messages with the membership Wednesday.
Many adolescence football coaches take categories to be authorized in the course of the California State Football Affiliation — South, referred to as Cal South. The Related Press left a voicemail with the group to peer if the membership had required Aquino-Garcia to be authorized thru its program, which calls for coaches to have their fingerprints cleared through the Division of Justice earlier than they’re allowed at the box with adolescence.
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Related Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this file.
