The parents of a 13-year-old boy allegedly killed by his soccer coach are suing the city and county of Los Angeles, claiming they failed to protect the teen from “grooming” before his death.
Oscar Omar Hernandez’s body was found off a road in Oxnard in April after he went to the Lancaster/Palmdale area to visit his soccer coach, Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino, 43.
The Ventura County Medical Examiners’ Office ruled that the 13-year-old died due to acute ethanol intoxication also know as alcohol poisoning.
Garcia Aquino was charged with the deceased boy’s murder as well as sexual assault against another teenager.
In the lawsuit, Oscar Omar’s parents, Oscar Daniel Hernandez and Gladys Bautista Vasquez, blamed the city and county for approving Garcia Aquino’s Huracan Valley Boys Soccer Club to play at government-operated soccer fields, such as El Cariso Community Park in Sylmar and Whitsett Fields Park in North Hollywood, following“deficient and careless background check” on the soccer coach.
“The city of Los Angeles misled the public, including (Oscar Omar’s parents), by holding Mario Garcia Aquino out to be a trustworthy and reliable coach with no history of a criminal record,” the complaint said. “Although staff and administrators of the city of Los Angeles knew, or should have known, about Garcia-Aquino’s past history of child sexual misconduct, and/or criminal background.”
The parents also claimed that the county of Los Angeles “failed to do a thorough background check,” ultimately allowing Garcia Aquino to “groom” Oscar Omar while county-operated parks.
While Aquino Garcia had no criminal history at the time of Oscar Omar’s death, the coach was accused of sexually assaulting a 14 or 15-year-old child at his former residence in Sylmar in 2022.
When asked why Aquino Garcia wasn’t charged in the 2022 case, the LA County District Attorney’s Office said the case was presented to prosecutors in August, 2023, and said at the time the case needed additional forensic testing.
The teen’s parents seek unspecified financial damages for “the loss of love, companionship, affection” of their son, Oscar Omar.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles paid out at least $320 million in liability claims and lawsuits.
The county, in April, reached a $4 billion tentative settlement to resolve over 6,800 sexual abuse claims against the county, dating back to 1959
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