Jserra Teacher Convicted of Sex with Former Student

By Eric Hartley
Orange County Register
May 29, 2014

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/convicted-616202-counts-sex.html

As the verdicts are read Thursday, Ricardo Aldana, former Spanish teacher and boys soccer coach at JSerra Catholic High School, buries his head in his hands. His defense attorney Michael Molfetta, sits right.

A former Catholic school teacher was convicted Thursday of three felony counts for having sex with a 14-year-old former student.

The jury acquitted Ricardo Aldana, 40, of four other counts.

He’ll be sentenced July 11, and the prosecutor said he faces a maximum sentence of four years and four months in prison. Under the law, the judge could also choose to give him less time behind bars or probation with no jail time.

The jury considered seven counts of lewd acts upon a child. Before the verdicts were read in court, Aldana crossed himself. He put his head down on the table briefly when the first not-guilty verdict was read, then held his hands to his face without looking at the jury.

Aldana’s lawyer called the verdicts a “partial victory” because they reduced the potential prison sentence. He could have faced seven years if convicted on all counts.

“Obviously, I’m not thrilled, but I’m not unhappy, either,” defense attorney Michael Molfetta said.

Aldana had been free on bail, but Orange County Superior Court Judge David Hoffer ordered deputies to take him to jail after the verdicts, and he was placed in handcuffs.

The victim’s family was pleased with the convictions, said their lawyer, John Manly.

Deputy District Attorney Jana Hoffman said Aldana and the girl met when she was 13 and in his freshman Spanish class at JSerra Catholic High School.

He was accused of touching and hugging the girl on campus in mid-2011, when she was 14 and still a student, but the jury acquitted Aldana of that count.

The rest of the sexual contact happened at Aldana’s house in September 2011 after the girl had left JSerra and was being home-schooled, Hoffman said.

She told the jury Aldana took advantage of the girl because he knew she had a crush on him. Aldana picked up the girl while her mother was out of town and took her to his Dana Point home, sneaking her past his roommates into his bedroom and having sex with her, Hoffman said.

Aldana was arrested in December 2011 and fired by JSerra soon after.

Molfetta told the jury the victim was a teenager seeking attention and fabricated the allegations. The girl had a history of lying, Molfetta said, having falsely accused her father of physical abuse.

Hoffman said evidence showed repeated texting and calling between Aldana and the girl, though jurors did not see the content of the texts because it had been wiped from phone company records.

Molfetta said the mixed verdicts “make no sense” because they required the jury to find the girl told the truth about some acts but lied about others. Jurors left court without commenting on their verdict.

Manly, the lawyer for the victim’s family, criticized Molfetta’s comments as “vile” and added that she was “a 14-year-old little girl” at the time Aldana had sex with her. The girl’s family has not decided whether to file a civil lawsuit against JSerra or Aldana over the abuse, Manly said.

In court, Molfetta mentioned a female former teacher at a Brea school who recently admitted repeatedly having sex with a 17-year-old male student and was sentenced to just 270 days in jail.

“The only difference between (Aldana) and that other teacher is the gender,” Molfetta said later.

Staff photographer Bruce Chambers contributed to this report.