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A 13-year-old boy found dead in a ditch this week was last seen with his soccer coach, who is being investigated on separate sexual assault charges, police and the boy’s family said.
Oscar Omar Hernandez had been missing for four days when investigators found his body in Ventura County — more than 70 miles from his family’s Lancaster home, according to Los Angeles police.
What caused Hernandez’s death is still unclear, but the boy’s grieving family has pointed the finger at his soccer coach, who they trusted and say was with him Saturday, the day Hernandez first failed to return home.
The coach picked up Hernandez’s phone that day when his brother Jose tried to call him, telling the family member that the teen was unavailable, Fox 11 reported.
Later, the coach allegedly told Hernandez’s father that he had dropped the boy off “near” the family’s home — prompting the family to contact police.
“We had that person at our home,” his sister Alejandra told Fox 11 through a translator.
“He even helped us look for Oscar.”
The coach — identified by reports as 43-year-old Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino — was arrested by Los Angeles police Wednesday on an unrelated warrant for a sexual assault case that was investigated last year by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
The alleged assault took place and was initially investigated in February 2024, but police at the time declined to file criminal charges for unknown reasons.
Now, Garcia Aquino faces a single count of assault with intent to commit another felony, which prosecutors allege was the attempted rape, sodomy or oral copulation of a man.
He is being held in jail on a $100,000 bail. Attorney information for Garcia Aquino was not immediately available.
Garcia Aquino has not officially been named as a suspect in Hernandez’s case, and the teen’s autopsy results are still pending.
Meanwhile, a vigil was held Thursday at the site where Hernandez’s body was found.
The teen had moved to California with his family from Honduras three years ago in search of a better life, and Hernandez had a passion for soccer.
