Coach Charged with Murder, Sex Assaults on Teens

0:00A former youth soccer coach in Los Angeles County, Mario Egardo Garcia Aquino, faces murder charges for killing 13-year-old Oscar Hernandez, through a cute ethanol intoxication. Prosecutors say he committed the act during or while trying a lude act on the child, plus a dozen other counts of sexual assaults on Hernandez and two. Other teens. If convicted, he's looking at life in prison, though they won't seek the death penalty. The boy went missing two days after visiting Garcia Aquino in Lancaster on March 28, 2025. His body turned up a week later by a road in Oxnard, ruled a homicide by the medical examiner. Cops linked him via DNA from the victim and a sexual assault kid, plus cell data putting his phone near the dump site. One surviving teen testified Garcia Aquino got him drunk on tequila in his trailer, punched him, and tried touching him after promising cash. The kid's mom said her son lived with the coach briefly, but called her panicked, saying the man was sick and had assaulted him.

1:01Another victim's friend noticed he looked rough right after. Investigators caught Garcia Aquino, burying a phone with child sexual abuse materials right before his April 2nd arrest. A judge just ruled there's enough evidence to send the case to trial on all charges, including new satamy and oral copulation counts against one teen. On September 2022, to July 2023, Garcia Aquino pleaded not guilty and heads back to court Friday for more testimony. The family calls it heartbreaking betrayal by someone trusted with kid's care, while feds blast him as a depraved predator. This case spotlights how predators hide in plain sight, coaching youth sports. That wraps California news today, brought to you with AI. I'm Cory with the story.