A former Esparto youth football coach has pleaded no contest to child molestation and possessing child pornography.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced today that Juan Hernandez, 37, of Woodland, pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation, possession of child pornography and a misdemeanor count of annoying or harassing a minor.
Hernandez also admitted to a prior strike conviction from 1995 for willfully discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manor, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.
As part of the plea bargain, Hernandez agreed to serve 21 years and four months in state prison.
Hernandez was a youth football coach in Esparto. The 12-year-old victim in the case was a family friend, and Hernandez had coached the victim's brothers. Hernandez sexually assaulted the girl in fall 2010 when she was at his house, officials said. He had purchased a cell phone and sent her inappropriate messages.
The girl told her mother, and the Woodland Police Department opened an investigation.
At the time, Hernandez was on probation for possession of stolen property. A search of his computer revealed evidence of child pornography, according to the news release.
The Woodland Police Department referred the case to the District Attorney's computer forensic division, supervised by Lt. Pete Martin. Martin and his team examined the computer and found more than 100 pornographic photographs and 86 child pornography films, officials said.
During the analysis, Martin saw a photo of a man's hand touching a child's private area. Investigators took photographs of Hernandez's hand in court, and a comparison of the photos matched the hand in the photograph on Hernandez's computer, officials said.
After analyzing Hernandez's computer, officials identified a second child victim. While examining a cell phone belonging to Hernandez, Martin found that Hernandez had sent inappropriate text messages to a 10-year-old girl. This resulted in the misdemeanor conviction for annoying or harassing a minor, according to the news release.
Yolo County Superior Court Judge Timothy Fall accepted Hernandez's no-contest pleas and will sentence Hernandez to state prison July 5.
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