A California elementary school employee was caught in the back of a car with a high school student he says he had been dating for several weeks, in the latest sex crime arrest to hit Southern California.
Santa Ana Police responded to reports of potential sexual activity happening inside a parked car just after 7:30 a.m. in the West Floral Park neighborhood Tuesday morning.
Mariano Hernandez, 32, was inside the car with an unidentified 16-year-old female before police arrested the creep, police announced Tuesday night.
Hernandez, a classified employee within the Tustin Unified School District, worked as a behavioral interventionist at Benson Elementary.
The girl was a student in the district, attending Foothill High School, where she allegedly met Hernandez.
The two were found approximately six miles west of the high school.
Both Hernandez and the teen admitted to police of being in a “dating relationship for a few weeks.”
Hernandez was arrested and booked into Santa Ana Jail.
He has been charged with “various sexual assault-related charges.”
Officials did not reveal the exact charges but believe there are additional victims and witnesses to Hernandez’s alleged sex crimes.
Tuesday’s arrest is the latest sexual assault case against a school employee in Santa Ana.
Edward Baxter, the 23-year-old head coach of the Santa Ana High School girls’ junior varsity team, was arrested in January for “dating” a student in the school.
Police were initially tipped off on Jan. 10, of a male and female in the back seat of the car.
The vehicle had left the scene but police soon discovered the 16-year-old student who admitted to being in a dating relationship with Baxter, police said.
Baxter was arrested at his home the next day and again charged with sexual assault-related offenses.
A choir teacher at Santa Ana High School, part of the Santa Ana Unified School District, was arrested in November for having “sexual relations” with an underage male student for nearly half a year.
Santa Ana police responded to the school at around 6 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2024, where they made contact with the unidentified 17-year-old senior who told them about the six-month-long relationship he had with Yessenia Navarro Garcia.
The 37-year-old agreed to meet up with the student in Santa Ana but was arrested when she arrived at the agreed-upon location.
Garcia admitted to the “sexual acts” and was slapped with several sexual assault-related charges.
The full-time choir teacher had worked in the school district for five years before her arrest.
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