"A San Fernando Valley soccer coach charged with sexually assaulting and killing one of his teenage players last year will face nine additional counts of sex abuse against a minor, authorities said Tuesday. Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, is now charged with eight counts of sodomy with a minor under the age of 16 and one count of oral copulation with a minor, according to Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson."
"Garcia-Aquino pleaded not guilty to the new charges. Representatives for the Los Angeles County public defender's office, which is representing the soccer coach, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The alleged abuse occurred between September 2022 and July 2023, Thompson said during a brief hearing in a downtown L.A. courtroom. Thompson told the court that prosecutors had uncovered "additional evidence" of abuse by Garcia-Aquino, but declined to offer details. The victim was also a player that Garcia-Aquino had coached, Thompson said."
Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino faces nine additional counts of sexual abuse involving another player he coached, including eight counts of sodomy with a minor under 16 and one count of oral copulation. The alleged abuse occurred between September 2022 and July 2023. Garcia-Aquino previously was charged with killing 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez after a lewd act at his Lancaster home; the boy's body was found in a Ventura County ditch and the coroner cited alcohol poisoning as the cause of death. Garcia-Aquino pleaded not guilty to the new charges. Prosecutors say they uncovered additional evidence during a court hearing.
Read at Los Angeles Times
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]