School janitor spent 5 years in prison on false charges of child sexual abuse. Now he’s suing

For almost five years, a Southern California school janitor was imprisoned, accused of committing despicable sexual crimes against young boys.

Now exonerated, Pedro Martinez is suing over a case he claims was rife with lies and underhanded tactics: a botched investigation, an accuser who had made nearly a dozen similar allegations in the past, a child coaxed to confess and then rewarded with candy.

Last December, Martinez was released after a jury acquitted him of charges of sexually assaulting children at a Hesperia elementary school. But Martinez wants more than just his freedom, he wants justice for the damage done to his life and his family.

On Monday, he and his wife, Juliette Mondragon de Martinez, filed a lawsuit against San Bernardino County, the Sheriff’s Department, three county detectives, one county attorney and a personal injury lawyer who represented the accuser in a civil case.

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“Mr. Martinez — a law-abiding citizen who never had even as much as a parking ticket — was arrested, charged with multiple counts of child sexual assault, publicly humiliated and demonized, and wrongfully prosecuted while being forced to suffer almost five years of incarceration until he was acquitted by a jury of all charges,” states the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the case was based on the absurd claims of “a self-confessed opioid addict with a criminal history who had repeatedly made multiple extremely similar allegations against others,” and not on any legitimate evidence.

It further alleges that county employees botched the investigation and subsequent trial by coaching witnesses, hiding exculpatory evidence from the jury, fabricating evidence and giving false testimony. In doing so, the county violated Martinez’s 14th Amendment right to due process under the law and his 4th Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, according to the complaint.

A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department said it does not comment on pending litigation, and a spokesperson for the county did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martinez was arrested on Jan. 22, 2019, after a girlfriend of one of the mothers at Maple Elementary School in Hesperia reported that he had been sexually abusing a 6-year-old male student.

He was later charged with 11 counts of child sexual abuse and remained in custody until his release on Dec. 11, 2023. During this time, he missed holidays, birthdays, milestones in his children’s lives, his brother’s funeral and the companionship of his wife, he says.

The complaint alleges that a Sheriff’s Department detective coerced one of the alleged 6-year-old victims into corroborating claims of assault after he initially denied experiencing any abuse.

The detective “asked leading questions, refused to accept denials, conveyed the threat of his partner that they would ‘call [his] dad’ if he continued to deny abuse and suggested the answer to every question,” according to the complaint. When the child did ultimately confirm abuse, he was rewarded with candy, the complaint states.

The lawsuit also accuses county employees of failing to take into account damning information about the accuser. This includes that she had reported at least 10 similar sexual assault allegations in the past, was charged with child abuse in 2020 and had been a party to multiple domestic violence restraining order petitions.

Aside from the claims made by the accuser and 6-year-old student, there was little evidence that pointed to Martinez’s guilt, according to the complaint.

A seizure and search of all of Martinez’s personal devices failed to find any media depicting exploitation of children, any records of sexual acts with children or any inappropriate communications with children, according to the complaint. Sexual assault exams of two of the alleged victims came back normal. A crime scene investigation of the janitor’s closet where the alleged assaults took place did not find any blood or semen.

“This case is a stark reminder of what happens when investigations are driven by bias and disregard for due process,” said Katherine McBroom, co-counsel for Martinez, in a statement. “We must hold those responsible accountable to safeguard the integrity of our legal system and ensure this never happens to anyone else.”

Martinez and his wife filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Eastern Division and are seeking compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.