Salinas school district employee found guilty of attempting to have sex with minor
UPDATE: 11/7/2018 12:29 p.m. A Salinas school district employee was found guilty of attempting to have sex with a minor.
33-year-old Jesus Ortega was a computer technician for Santa Rita School District when he began sending a girl inappropriate emails. As part of his job, he had access to all the student’s school email addresses.
According to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, Ortega started emailing Jane Doe on May 10, 2017. The two emailed each other for about two months.
“In his emails, he lied to Doe about his age and stated he was only 21-years-old. He also purchased gifts for her and complimented her physical appearance,” said the DA’s Office.
An officer with the Salinas Police Department began sending Ortega messages from Doe’s account, pretending to be her.
Ortega responded to Doe’s account saying he wanted to have oral sex with her and sent a pornographic image to her email.
The DA’s Office said Ortega planned to meet Doe at Northridge Mall in Salinas on July 20, 2017 to engage in sex acts. Officers stopped Ortega about four miles away from the mall.
On Nov. 5, Ortega was found guilty of communicating with a minor under 14 to commit oral copulation, attempting to meet with a minor for a lewd purpose, arranging a meeting with a minor for a lewd purpose, sending pornography to a minor and annoying a minor.
Ortega will be sentenced on Dec.11, 2018. He faces up to five years and eight months in custody.
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7/21/2017 10:00 p.m. A Santa Rita School District employee is now in jail after sending inappropriate messages to a 13 year-old.
Police say 32-year old Jesus Ortega was talking with the girl through email. Once her mom found out, she called police, now they want to know if there are other victims.
Jesus Ortega started sending inappropriate emails in May, eventually sending a picture to the 13-year old girl.
Ortega lives in Prunedale and worked for the Santa Rita School District in the IT Department.
“She thought it was someone closer to her own age and that’s the kind of game this person was planning,” Commander Mike Groves with the Salinas Police Department said.
Police aren’t saying how it all started but, they say Ortega made the first contact.
“He was able to contact her,” Groves said, “So it looked like he took the aggressive move to contact her.”
About a month after it started, the girls mom found out and called police.
“We basically got involved and took over that account with the mother’s permission and just arranged basically to actually have this person meet with who he thought was the 13 year-old girl,” Groves said.
That’s when Ortega was arrested, experts say it’s a good reminder to pay attention to your child’s online activity.
“Video games, WhatsApp, Kik, Instagram, Facebook, all of the regular social media and all of the ones that are coming out newly” said Lauren DaSilva, Deputy Director of the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center. “It’s really important to just know the ages and the content of the conversations that kids are having with people who they might think are children that are actually adults.”
If you do find something suspicious, let police know.
“It’s so important,” Groves said. “The earlier you can head that off the better.”
Police encourage anyone who knows anything to come forward.
If you’d like to find out more about the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center click here.
They also have 24 hour crisis lines you can reach at 831-375-4357 or 831-424-4357.
PREVIOUS STORY: An employee of the Santa Rita School District in Salinas is behind bars for allegedly emailing a minor inappropriate messages and a picture.
According to the Salinas Police Department, 32-year-old Jesus Ortega of Prunedale had been emailing a 13-year-old girl since May.
On July 6, the mother contacted Salinas Police regarding inappropriate messages she found on her daughters email account. A detective took over the email account and began conversations with Ortega.
According to police, Ortega repeatedly emailed what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Police said the conversations turned sexual and Ortega sent an explicit picture.
Police said, on July 20, Ortega set up a meeting with the victim with the intent to commit sexual acts. Detectives arrested Ortega when he was on his way to meet the victim. Police conducted a search warrant at his home in Prunedale, where electronic devices were confiscated.
The Santa Rita School District is cooperating with the investigation and has given police access to Ortega’s work-related electronics.
Ortega was transported to the Monterey County Jail and booked for charges that include, annoying a child, distributing obscene material, sending harmful matter to seduce a minor, communicate with minor to commit offense, and abnormal seuxal interest in children and others.
The Investigations Bureau asks for the public’s help with information on any inappropriate contact Ortega may have had with other minors. Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Jared Siverston at 831-758-7132.
