A youth soccer coach was charged Monday with murdering a 13-year-old boy whose body was found last week in Oxnard.
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Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in connection with the killing of Oscar "Omar" Hernandez, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced as he stood with the victim's parents and sister at a news conference late Monday afternoon
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The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission or attempted commission of lewd acts with a child, making Garcia-Aguino eligible for a potential death sentence.
The 13-year-old boy -- who had traveled March 28 to Lancaster to see his soccer coach -- was reported missing two days later and found dead last Wednesday, according to Hochman.
The teenager's body was discovered by the side of a road in Oxnard, but authorities have not announced how the boy was killed.
Garcia-Aquino is also charged in a separate case with a felony count of assault with the intent to commit a lewd act involving a 16-year-old boy in Palmdale on Feb. 22, 2024, Hochman said. He could face up to six years in state prison if convicted on that case.
Authorities were asking anyone with information about Garcia-Aquino or any alleged other victims to call the Los Angeles Police Department's Juvenile Division, Abused Child Unit at 818-374-5415, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau at 877-710-5273.
Information also may be provided anonymously by phone to the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
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