SANTA ANA, Calif. – A San Clemente orthodontist has been charged with multiple felonies for molesting a young boy beginning when the boy was just four years old and possessing child pornography. The orthodontist, who features videos of numerous child patients competing in extreme professional sports, also maintains offices in San Diego and Mammoth, according to the OCDA.
Frank Joseph Mogavero Jr., 63, of San Clemente, has been charged with five felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14 and one felony count of possession of child pornography. The child molestation is alleged to have occurred between January 2013 and July 2020 in Mono County and in Orange County.
The victim is alleged to have been four at the time of the first charged offense and between the ages of 11 and 12 years old at the time of the four subsequent charged offense.
The child is not a patient of Dr. Mogavero; however, to protect the identity of the victim of child molestation, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is not disclosing the relationship between the boy and Dr. Mogavero.
In 2013, Mogavero is accused of touching the boy inappropriately when he was four years old in Mammoth, and again, repeatedly, in Orange County, between 2018 and 2020 when the boy was 11-12 years old.
Mogavero faces a maximum sentence of 16 years, 8 months in state prison if convicted on all counts. He is currently being held without bail.
He is currently scheduled to appear in court on December 9, 2024, for a bail review and preliminary hearing.
“The sexual abuse of an innocent child is something that should outrage our entire community and we will continue to do everything we can to continue to protect children from the monsters who seek to prey on them,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
