The charging of a Los Angeles-area youth soccer coach in the killing of 13-year-old boy whose body was found along a road in Oxnard is raising new questions about earlier criminal investigations into the accused man’s contact with minors as well as his immigration status.
Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43, was charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Oscar Omar Hernandez. Police records show that Garcia Aquino was the subject of two earlier investigations into alleged misconduct with children.
Here is what we know:
A booking photo of Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43.
(Jessica Foster / Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)
Earlier cases
Garcia Aquino was charged this week with assault with intent to commit rape in connection with a Feb. 22, 2024, incident. The coach allegedly “took advantage of a position of trust and confidence in committing the assault,” according to criminal records filed in court. The offense involved a 16-year-old boy, authorities said.
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said this week the reason for the delay in filing charges in the 2024 assault was because such crimes must be thoroughly investigated.
Garcia Aquino was also the subject of an LAPD investigation into the suspected sexual assault of a minor in 2022, but was never charged because the alleged victim declined to testify against him, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Garcia Aquino with one felony count each of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense and lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 years old. Prosecutors allege Garcia Aquino sexually assaulted a teenager at his then-home in Sylmar on Dec. 10, 2022.
Both victims, the sources said, were connected to his soccer coaching.
Garcia Aquino was a youth travel soccer coach with the Hurricane Valley boys soccer club in the Sylmar area, and worked with different age divisions, according to authorities.
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman announces murder charges against Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino as relatives of Oscar Omar Hernandez look on.
(Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times)
Immigration status
Multiple law enforcement sources who said they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case said that Garcia Aquino was an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador.
Garcia Aquino has not entered a plea and could not be reached for comment.
Although Garcia Aquino has yet to be found guilty of the killing and assaults, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on X describing him as a “depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country.”
It remains unclear how long Garcia Aquino had been the the U.S. and how exactly he got here.
The killing of Oscar Omar Hernandez
Hernandez’s family had reported the teen missing on Sunday, March 30, after he failed to return home from visiting Garcia Aquino at the coach’s Lancaster residence.
The teen, who lived in Sun Valley, had taken a train to the Antelope Valley the day before he was reported missing. When the boy’s brother tried to phone him later that day, the coach answered the boy’s cellphone and said the boy was busy and could not talk.
According to the family and investigators, Daniel Hernandez, the boy’s father, later called the coach and insisted he drop the teen off near the family’s home.
After the boy’s disappearance, investigators used data from cellular devices, cellphone towers, and other tracking systems and determined that the suspect visited the Oxnard area near McGrath State Beach and the Santa Clara River, according to law enforcement sources, who were not authorized to discuss the probe.
A search by LAPD investigators and FBI agents led to the discovery of the boy’s body alongside North Harbor Boulevard, north of West Gonzales Road. Investigators did not specify the cause of death.
