A Cathedral City man who molested two boys whose mother had sent them to stay with him while she got back on her feet financially was sentenced Friday to 16 years in state prison.
David Hadley Pio, 67, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for Pio’s admissions, prosecutors dropped two related felony charges against the defendant.
During a hearing Friday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini certified the terms of the plea agreement and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.
Pio’s case had been pending adjudication for more than a decade.
According to an arrest warrant declaration filed by the Cathedral City Police Department in summer 2012, Pio’s victims were brothers, identified only as “Andres A.” and “Miguel A.”
In 2010, their mother was experiencing financial difficulties, and after she discussed her troubles with a person who was a close personal friend of hers and Pio’s, the individual, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, put them in touch, according to the declaration.
Pio offered to take the youths into his home, stating it would be beneficial for them to have a “father figure” while their mom got back on her feet, court papers said. Along with Andres and Miguel, there was another sibling whose identity was not revealed. He apparently did not make any allegations after he spent time at Pio’s home.
Andres and Miguel — who are now adults — said there were instances when Pio touched their privates, and one of the victims, who was 13 at the time, said he was forced to take showers with the defendant, who masturbated in front of him.
“He would tell (the victim) that he was handsome and that he loved him,” the declaration stated.
The victim said there were “so many incidents of touching he couldn’t give it a number,” according to the document.
“He said it occurred `almost every day,”’ the affidavit said.
Pio showed the victim pornographic videos on two occasions, and the youth walked in on Pio watching porn “numerous” times, according to the affidavit, which added that the videos showed children as young as 8.
When detectives served a search warrant at Pio’s home in July 2012, they seized computers and other electronic devices loaded with child porn, police said.
The defendant was arrested without incident on July 17, 2012.
In 1994, he was arrested on suspicion of lewd conduct, penetration with a foreign object and forcible sodomy on a person under 14, but that case was later dismissed for reasons not detailed in court records.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.