The family of a 13-year-old boy found dead in a roadside ditch earlier this year is suing the city of Los Angeles, claiming parks department officials failed to do a proper background check on the youth soccer coach accused of sexually abusing and murdering the teen.
Oscar Daniel Hernandez and Gladys Bautista Vasquez, the parents of Oscar Omar Rodriguez, filed a notice of claim against the city on Sept. 11, contending the Los Angeles Dept. of Parks & Recreation exposed children to harm by granting Mario Garcia-Aquino a permit to coach youth soccer teams.
“The City of Los Angeles, through its permit application and approval process, knew or should have known that Mario Garcia-Aquino would be using city parks solely to groom and sexually abuse children on a daily or weekly basis under the guise of a boys’ soccer club,” read the notice, typically a precursor to a civil lawsuit.
Oscar played for the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club in the Sylmar area, which Garcia-Aquino coached. The family’s attorney, Michael Carrillo, said the city was negligent by failing to notify parents that he’d twice faced sexual abuse allegations from players in the past.
The boy was found dead in Ventura County in April, days after traveling to Palmdale to Garcia-Aquino’s home where he was supposed to help his coach make soccer jerseys. Prosecutors have since accused Garcia-Aquino of killing the teen after sexually assaulting him. Oscar died of alcohol poisoning, records show.
Garcia-Aquino is now awaiting trial for Oscar’s murder and the prior sex abuse allegations. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Los Angeles Police Department investigated an allegation of sex abuse against Garcia-Aquino in late 2022, officials previously told The Times, but a criminal case was never filed because the victim would not cooperate with law enforcement. A second player accused Garcia-Aquino of abuse in 2024, prompting a sheriff’s department investigation.
But the L.A. County district attorney’s office took more than 10 months to file charges, a previous Times investigation showed, raising questions about whether prosecutors missed a chance to arrest the coach before the alleged killing.
“We would expect for the LAPD to inform the city that they work for that ‘Hey maybe this guy should be on the do not permit list,’” said Michael Carrillo, one of the family’s attorneys. “That would be a very rational reasonable approach. Anything to prevent this man from being around kids.”
Garcia-Aquino is undocumented, and news of his arrest also previously drew a furious response from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which called him a “depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country,” in a post on X earlier this year. Carrillo, however, said it would be “wrong” to blame the murder on immigration policies and that the family’s frustration lies with city and county officials.
A spokesman for the city attorney’s office said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. Calls and e-mails to the Department of Parks and Recreation were not returned. Carrillo said he did not know when Garcia-Aquino’s coaching permit was last renewed.
Garcia-Aquino is due back in court next month.
The post L.A. soccer coach killed teen after slipping past city’s background check, family claims appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
