The household of a 13-year-old boy discovered useless in a roadside ditch this yr is suing the town of Los Angeles, claiming parks division officers did not do a correct background examine on the youth soccer coach accused of sexually abusing and murdering the teenager.
Oscar Daniel Hernandez and Gladys Bautista Vasquez, the dad and mom of Oscar Omar Hernandez, referred to as Omar, filed a discover of declare towards the town on Sept. 11, contending the Los Angeles Division of Recreation and Parks uncovered youngsters to hurt by granting Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino a allow to educate youth soccer groups.
“The Metropolis of Los Angeles, by means of its allow software and approval course of, knew or ought to have identified that Mario Garcia-Aquino can be utilizing metropolis parks solely to groom and sexually abuse youngsters on a every day or weekly foundation below the guise of a boys’ soccer membership,” learn the discover, usually a precursor to a civil lawsuit.
Gladys Bautista Vasquez, the mom of Oscar Omar Hernandez, weeps whereas speaking about her son throughout a information convention outdoors the Clara Shortridge Foltz Legal Justice Middle in Los Angeles on April 30, 2025.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
Omar performed for the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Membership within the Sylmar space, which Garcia-Aquino coached. The household’s lawyer, Michael Carrillo, stated the town was negligent by failing to inform dad and mom that he’d twice confronted sexual abuse allegations from gamers up to now.
The boy was discovered useless in Ventura County in April, days after touring to Palmdale to Garcia-Aquino’s dwelling, the place he was supposed to assist his coach make soccer jerseys. Prosecutors have since accused Garcia-Aquino of killing the teenager after sexually assaulting him. Omar died of alcohol poisoning, information present.
Garcia-Aquino is now awaiting trial for Omar’s homicide and the prior intercourse abuse allegations. He has pleaded not responsible to all expenses.
A police reserving photograph of Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, accused of killing 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez in March 2025.
(Jessica Foster / Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division)
The Los Angeles Police Division investigated an allegation of intercourse abuse towards Garcia-Aquino in late 2022, officers beforehand instructed The Instances, however a legal case was by no means filed as a result of the sufferer wouldn’t cooperate with regulation enforcement. A second participant accused Garcia-Aquino of abuse in 2024, prompting a Sheriff’s Division investigation.
However the L.A. County district lawyer’s workplace took greater than 10 months to file expenses, a earlier Instances investigation confirmed, elevating questions on whether or not prosecutors missed an opportunity to arrest the coach earlier than Omar’s demise.
Oscar Omar Hernandez, proven in an undated photograph, was killed March 28, 2025, and his physique was discovered 5 days after he left his Solar Valley dwelling to fulfill along with his coach in Lancaster.
(Courtesy of Hernandez household)
“We might count on for the LAPD to tell the town that they work for that, ‘Hey, possibly this man needs to be on the don’t allow listing,’” stated Michael Carrillo, one of many household’s attorneys. “That will be a really rational cheap method. Something to stop this man from being round children.”
Garcia-Aquino is undocumented, and information of his arrest additionally beforehand drew a livid response from the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, which known as him a “wicked unlawful alien who ought to have by no means been on this nation,” in a publish on X earlier this yr. Carrillo, nevertheless, stated that it will be “mistaken” responsible the homicide on immigration insurance policies and that the household’s frustration lies with metropolis and county officers.
A spokesman for the town lawyer’s workplace stated the company doesn’t touch upon pending litigation. Calls and emails to the Division of Recreation and Parks weren’t returned. Carrillo stated he didn’t know when Garcia-Aquino’s teaching allow was final renewed.
Garcia-Aquino is due again in courtroom subsequent month.
