The soccer coach jailed on suspicion of murdering 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez was charged Tuesday with an additional count for an alleged sexual attack on a teen in 2022.
Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, was set to make an initial appearance in court Tuesday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.
He was charged Monday with first-degree murder for the death of Oscar, who was reported missing March 30 after his parents said he’d gone to visit Garcia Aquino in the Antelope Valley.
Garcia Aquino was initially arrested last week on an unrelated sexual assault case from 2024, in which Garcia Aquino allegedly attacked a 16-year-old at a home in Lancaster.
The 2022 case, which was investigated but never previously charged, involves an alleged sexual offense on a child 14 or 15 years old that police said took place at Garcia Aquino’s former residence in Sylmar.
In an interview Monday members of Oscar Hernandez’s family wondered if the teen would still be alive had authorities not waited until last week to bring criminal charges in the 2024 sexual assault.
The LA County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday the 2022 case was presented to prosecutors in August, 2023, and said at the time the case needed additional forensic testing.
“Once all of the testing was complete and we received the final results, and after the prefiling interview with the victim, our office initiated the filing process on April 7, 2025,” the DA’s office said in a statement.
As to the 2024 case, the DA’s office said Sheriff’s detectives presented the evidence in May, 2024, and again, said prosecutors needed additional forensic tests.
“Once all of the testing was complete and we received the final results, our office initiated the filing process on March 25, 2025,” the statement said.
Law enforcement officials told NBCLA they received numerous calls from the public after requesting information at a news conference Monday on other unreported incidents involving the coach.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles issued a statement Tuesday in response to questions about Garcia Aquino’s immigration status.
“This was an avoidable crime and the result of failed border policies,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “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.”
