A former Tustin Unified School District employee has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 32 months in prison for sexually assaulting a girl in Santa Ana, according to court records obtained Wednesday.
Mariano Hernandez, 31, pleaded guilty Monday to two felony counts of sexual penetration of a child. As part of the plea deal, two felony counts of sexual assault of a child and single felony counts each of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sex offense and a count of meeting a minor to commit lewd conduct were dismissed.
Police were sent to Westwood Avenue and Riviera Drive about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 4, 2025, regarding sexual activity in a vehicle, Santa Ana Police Department Officer Natalie Garcia said. When officers arrived they saw a man and the girl in the back seat of the car, she said.
The 16-year-old girl was a student at Foothill High School in Santa Ana, where she met the defendant, Garcia said.
Hernandez worked as a behavior interventionist at Benson Elementary School in the Tustin Unified School District, Garcia said. The two told investigators they had been dating “for a few weeks,” Garcia said.