A soccer coach identified by the family of a missing 13-year-old boy as the last person who had contact with the teen was questioned about the disappearance and booked on an unrelated sexual assault charge, according to law enforcement sources and court records.
The medical examiner in Ventura County confirmed the body found in a ditch in Oxnard earlier this week was that of Oscar Omar Hernandez. Police had said a body that appears to match the description of the teen.
The man in custody, Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, was arrested by LAPD detectives Wednesday morning on a warrant issued earlier that day in an unrelated sexual assault case that was investigated last year by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
“This individual has not been arrested or charged in connection with the Hernandez case,” the LAPD told NBCLA Friday afternoon. “Our investigation is ongoing.”
Garcia Aquino failed to make an initial court appearance at the Criminal Courts Building in downtown LA on Friday and was expected to appear Monday.
He was being held in LA County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
According to the criminal complaint in the 2024 investigation, Garcia Aquino faces a single count of assault with intent to commit another felony, which prosecutors allege was the attempted rape, sodomy or oral copulation of a man.
Records show the alleged assault took place in February 2024 and was investigated by the LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
Several law enforcement sources said the LA County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case in 2024 but did not file criminal charges for unknown reasons.
NBC LA requested a case memo from the DA’s office, usually supplied on request, that would detail the office’s decision in the case, but a spokesperson declined to provide it, saying a request under the California Public Records Act would need to be filed.
The DA’s office said late Friday there’s an ongoing investigation into the potential of additional victims.
[publish_date
