Sex offender who molested more girls while reading to them at an SAUSD school gets 28 years in prison

Miguel Angel Pineda, a previously convicted sex offender, is going to prison for the next 28 years after he was sentenced for molesting three little girls while he was taking part in a reading program at a Santa Ana elementary school, according to court records.

Pineda, who is now 29, admitted to three felony counts of forcible lewd acts upon a child, in a plea deal on Aug. 20. He had previously faced nine felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child younger than 14. The plea deal shaved off six felony counts.

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 SAPD police detectives who had testified at a previous court hearing.

Pineda was working with the Boys & Girls Club at the time, according to the prosecutors. He was part of a program in which college-age individuals would come read to second-grade students twice a week, according to the court testimony.

Pineda had admitted to molesting another student he met through the same program at a different school several years ago and he was sentenced to a year in jail after that incident. However, after that conviction, police found out about his additional victims.

One girl told her mother that Pineda had her sit on his lap while he read and touched her underneath her clothing, according to testimony by members of law enforcement. 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 got credit for 1,436 days in jail awaiting trial, according to court records.

Why in the world did the Boys & Girls Club hire this guy and how was he allowed to access children at an SAUSD public school???