Sonny Angel Cabugao Boloico, 39, of Aliso Viejo, California
A former director at a children’s ministry in California has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager girl and recording her while she was nude, and authorities are citing his “extensive employment history involving children-centered jobs” while asking for helping identifying more potential victims.
Sonny Angel Cabugao Boloico, 39, worked at schools throughout Orange County beginning in 2012, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, including the Community Roots Academy in Laguna Niguel, the Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center in Santa Ana, the Southeastern California – OC Grace Church in Garden Grove, Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Tustin, and Storeybook Creative Dance in Orange.
According to prosecutors, Boloico was a children’s ministry director, dance instructor, drama teacher, creative arts director and after-school program leader. He most recently worked with elderly people at the Newport Subacute Healthcare Center in Costa Mesa.
He currently is charged with four felonies involving the teen girl: sexual penetration of a child over 14 by a foreign object and fear, sexual penetration of an unconscious victim, one felony count of a lewd act upon a child age 14 or 15 and one felony count of using a underage person for obscene matter.
“It is unconscionable that this individual used a position of trust to groom his young victim and exploit her vulnerability in such a sick and twisted way,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a press release.
“Parents should have the peace of mind that the teachers and clergy they have around their children are there to teach them not to prey on them,” Spitzer said.
Boloico was arrested by the Orange Police Department on Oct. 31. He faces a maximum 11 years and four months in California state prison if convicted of all charges. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 16 and has been in jail since Oct. 31 on $500,000 bail. The online jail roster lists his occupation as “director” and his height and weight at 5-foot-3 and 207 pounds.
Anyone with information about additional potential victims is asked to contact Orange Police Department Detective Augie Rocha at 714-744-7579. Deputy District Attorney Laila Nikaien of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting Boloico.
The DA’s Office announced the case on Monday, five days after announcing the conviction of high school water polo coach Bahram Hojreh, 46, for sexually assaulting nine teenage girls he trained between 2012 and 2017, as well as assaulting a 10th.
“Many of the assaults occurred underwater during training sessions at the Olympic-size pool at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos unbeknownst to parents watching from the poolside,” according to a press release.
Hojreh faces twice as long in prison as Boloico does under his current charges: 22 years in state prison. He was taken into custody after the jury convicted him last week. He’s already been banned from life from participating in USA Water Polo events.
[Image via Orange County District Attorney’s Office]
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