Coach Pleads Not Guilty to Murder, Sex Crimes

0:00A 45-year-old youth soccer coach named Mario Eduardo Garcia Aquino just pleaded not guilty to murder and a bunch of sex crimes tied to the death of 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez back in March 2025, plus attacks on two other teen boys. Earlier this month, a Los Angeles County judge ruled there's enough evidence to send the case to trial and prosecutors aren't seeking the death. Penalty, so if convicted, he faces life in prison without parole. He's got over a dozen other charges, including assaults and lured acts from 2022 and 2023 in places like Silmar, Ones and Palmdale. The boy went missing after visiting his coach and Lancaster on March 28, and his body turned up days later in Oxnard from alcohol poisoning, ruled a homicide since he wasn't an experienced drinker. Cops tracked the coach's phone to that area, found DNA linking him on the body, and even dug up a buried phone near his home with child abuse images.

1:02One surviving teen described getting punched, forced to drink tequila, and groped after a shopping trip, saying he'd never touched alcohol before. The other lived with the coach briefly due to family issues and called his mom scared, saying the man had touched him wrong. Garcia Aquino had no prior record as a coach for a Silmar soccer club, but now he's locked up with Albeil with his next court date, May 28. This tragedy has families and officials reeling over how someone trusted with kids could go this far off the rails. California News Today, powered by AI Bringing You What Matters, I'm Corey with The Story.