A previously convicted sex offender has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for molesting three girls while taking part in a reading program at a Santa Ana elementary school, court records show.
Miguel Angel Pineda, now 29, agreed to a plea deal on Aug. 20 in which he admitted to three felony counts of forcible lewd acts upon a child. Pineda had previously faced nine felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child younger than 14.
The lewd acts occurred while Pineda, a Huntington Beach resident, was reading to the 7 and 8-year-old girls in a library on the the Washington Elementary School campus in Santa Ana in 2017 and 2018, according to testimony by detectives at a previous court hearing.
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Pineda — who prosecutors previously described as working with the Boys & Girls Club at the time — was taking part in a program in which college-age individuals would come read to second-grade students twice a week, according to the courtroom testimony.
Pineda several years ago admitted to molesting another student he met through the same program at a different school, and was sentenced to a year in jail. But, after that conviction, the new reports of additional victims emerged.
One girl told her mother that Pineda had her sit on his lap while he read and touched her underneath her clothing, according to law enforcement testimony. A second girl also reported that Pineda had her sit on his lap, while a third told investigators that Pineda inappropriately touched her while she was standing up.
Pineda was given credit for 1,436 days in jail awaiting trial, court records show.
