East L.A. Soccer Coach Found Guilty of Lewd Acts
By City News Service
(CNS) – A former coach at a private soccer club was convicted today of five felony sex-related charges involving a 14-year-old boy he coached.
A seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated about two hours before finding Javier Arrioja, 49, guilty of four counts of lewd acts on a child and
one count of sending harmful matter.
Arrioja was a coach for the Missioneros, a private soccer club for boys under 17 in the East Los Angeles area. The crimes happened between May 2011 and November 2011 at various locations, including Arrioja’s home and local parks, according to Deputy District Attorney Jane Creighton.
Arrioja has remained jailed since his Feb. 17 arrest by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau. Investigators learned about the crimes after the teenage boy told a friend what had happened. The girl relayed the account to her sister, who then told her mother who in turn notified authorities, the prosecutor told jurors in her opening statement.
Defense attorney Cedric Payne questioned the teenage boy’s account. “They have not proven this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the deputy
public defender told jurors in his closing argument Wednesday. Creighton countered that the teenager was “very credible.”
Arrioja is facing a maximum of five years and eight months in state prison, with sentencing set Sept. 25 before Judge Sam Ohta.
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September 6, 2012 Copyright © 2012 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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