Janitor Convicted Of Taking Porn Pics Of Girls In Elementary School Bathroom
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — An elementary school janitor was convicted Thursday on charges he took pornographic images of children in the bathroom at Glenn L. Martin School in Santa Ana.
Angel Rojas, 25, locked the doors on several bathrooms forcing young girls to use a restroom where he had set up a small hidden camera.
Rojas, of Corona, who was free on bail, was handcuffed and taken to jail after the verdicts.
Jurors reached a verdict in less than an hour, said prosecutors.
Rojas' attorney, Ernest Delamora, asked that his client remain free until sentencing. But the judge turned down the request. Orange County Superior Court Judge James Crandall said, "Although it's a misdemeanor, these are reprehensible crimes; and the victims are children."
Rojas is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Deputy District Attorney Cheryl Gold said she would argue for 270 days in jail and to have Rojas ordered to register as a sex offender.
When a Santa Ana police investigator confronted Rojas about images on a laptop computer in his bedroom, the defendant "admitted he's addicted to pornography and it makes him lose control," Gold said in closing arguments.
When Rojas told the investigator that child porn cannot be bought in stores or found online, "He's admitting he's looking for it," Gold said.
Rojas synced the iPod to the laptop, which contained images of "very young girls," exposed as they used the bathroom, Gold said.
Delamora said his client "admitted his responsibility from the stand" on the secret camera, but argued he did not intend to commit child annoyance.
Gold is "asking you to use your emotions to find him guilty of count two," Delamora said in his closing argument. "And she's doing that by showing a picture of a girl in front of a toilet."
Delamora argued that the officer who questioned Rojas recorded the interview, but after typing up a transcript he then destroyed the recording because, "It contained exonerating evidence."
The attorney added, "In this age of technology where a recorded interview can be transferred to a CD that costs 25 cents, why destroy evidence that's important? Well, because it's not convenient to (the investigator) to make his case."
Delamora also argued that there was no way to prove who downloaded the pornographic images into the computer because Rojas shared a home with several people.
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