A youth soccer coach charged with the murder of a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy was living in the U.S. illegally and now faces charges of child sexual abuse on another boy that happened years earlier.
Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 44, was charged Monday with murder with the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission or attempted commission of lewd acts with a child. That was in connection to the death of Oscar “Omar” Hernandez, whose body was found by the side of the road in Ventura County, California, last week.
Now, it has been revealed that the suspect has also been charged with the assault of a 14-year-old boy in December of 2022, according to updated court documents viewed by The Independent. In that case, he faces counts of assault with intent to commit a felony and a lewd act upon a child aged 14 or 15.
On or about December 10, 2022, the complaint alleges, Garcia-Aquino assaulted the boy – referred to only as Julian A – “with the intent to commit rape, sodomy, [and] oral copulation.”
Separately, Garcia-Aquino has been charged with one felony count of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale in February 2024.
Asked by ABC 7 about why charges in the two alleged sexual assault cases were not brought sooner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the process of gathering evidence had been lengthy.
"During the 2022 case, it was presented to the D.A.'s office in August of 2023,” he told the outlet. “When we got the case, we asked for additional interviews, we asked for additional forensic evidence to be analyzed and completed.
“Unfortunately, the additional interviews were not finalized until very recently. Once we had a final interview or pre-filing interview with the victim, we were in a position to go forward with that case, which we made a decision on Monday, and the case got filed today.”
He added: "Very often in order to get to a completion of a case, the individuals involved in a case have to be at a point at which they are willing to fully come forward and provide all the information we need to make a prosecutorial decision.
“That didn't happen fully until yesterday after the charges have been brought against the 13-year-old who got murdered."
Hochman told ABC 7 that the full timelines of prosecutors’ knowledge of the cases would emerge when they came to trial.
The Independent has reached out to the DA’s office for further information about the alleged assault in 2022.
Multiple media outlets have reported that Garcia-Aquino entered the country illegally. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to questions about his immigration status from The Associated Press.
"This was an avoidable crime and the result of failed border policies," U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said after the suspect’s arrest, according to NBC Los Angeles. "We cannot and will not tolerate illegal aliens who flout our nation’s immigration laws then prey on children. Federal law enforcement will continue to be very aggressive in locating, apprehending, and prosecuting criminal illegal aliens."
