February 22, 2017 — An after-school aide at Liberty Elementary School and the Boys & Girls Club in Riverside, California was arrested on charges of sexually abusing 4 children and police believe there may be more victims.
Fernando Figueroa, 24, was arrested without incident on February 16 after police served a search warrant at his home on the 5000 block of La Sierra Avenue. He was booked at a Riverside jail on $4 million bail.
Police began investigating Figueroa on February 9, after a girl under 10 years old said “she was touched by a technology aide in a sexual manner,” according to officials at Liberty Elementary School.
Figueroa was arrested after detectives found 3 more victims under 10 years old with similar stories of sexual assault. There could be more.
As soon as the allegations were made, Figueroa was immediately placed on administrative leave by the Riverside Unified School District.
He was a tutor in the school district from February 2015 to August 2015, when he was hired at Liberty Elementary and began working there 4 days a week as an after-school technology aide.
Figueroa was also employed by the Redlands Boys & Girls Club for 3 years and was “working directly with kids” in after-school programs, according to the club’s chief executive P.T. McEwen.
“This whole thing comes as a shock,” McEwen said. He told NBC Los Angeles Figueroa passed a background check before he was hired. He was also barred from the facility and placed on indefinite leave.
Figueroa has been charged with several counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 10.
Detectives from Riverside’s Sexual Abuse / Child Abuse Unit ask anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact Detective Paul Miranda at (951) 353-7945 or pmiranda@riversideca.gov, or Detective Bercian at (951) 353-7950 or ebercian@riversideca.gov.
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