ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE: October 27, 2014
TONY RACKAUCKAS, District Attorney
Case # 12HF0258
SANTA ANA – A former JSerra Catholic High School (JSerra) teacher was sentenced Friday to three years and four months in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration for engaging in unlawful sex acts with a 14-year-old girl he met at the school. Ricardo Aldana, 40, was found guilty by a jury on May 29, 2014, of three felony counts of lewd acts upon a child.
At the time of the crime, Aldana was a Spanish teacher and boys’ soccer coach at JSerra in San Juan Capistrano. He met 13-year-old Jane Doe while she was a student at the school. He befriended the victim and gained her trust.
In June 2011, after Jane Doe had turned 14 years old, Aldana inappropriately massaged Jane Doe’s shoulders over her clotheswhile they were alone in his classroom. He continued to groom the victim by frequently exchanging text messages and speaking with her on the phone.
In September 2011, Aldana picked up Jane Doe in his vehicle near her home while the victim’s mother was out of town. He drove the victim to his Dana Point residence and snuck her into his bedroom to avoid being seen by his roommates. Aldana engaged in substantial unlawful sex acts with Jane Doe. At approximately 4:00 a.m., Aldana dropped Jane Doe off at her home.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department began investigating this case after an out-of-state honors academic camp instructor became suspicious after overhearing statements by the victim to other students.
During the trial, a prior victim testified that she had engaged in sexual intercourse with the defendant multiple times when she was 16 years old and the defendant was in his early twenties. The jury heard the defendant begging Jane Doe in a recorded call to not to discuss anything about the case.
During the sentencing, Jane Doe delivered an impact statement to the court. She said in part, “Aldana stole my innocence. He stunted my emotional and spiritual growth. He showed me humanity’s deepest evil. I have come to the realization that this pain I feel will never go away. Forever I will have to live with the fact that I was raped by my Spanish teacher, 23 years older than me, when I was only 14.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jana Hoffmann, formerly of the Sexual Assault Unit, and now Assistant Head of Court in the Harbor Justice Center, prosecuted this case.
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TONY RACKAUCKAS, District Attorney
Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718
