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Date: February 21, 2025 Case #: 17NF1442
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58-year-old Santa Ana Man Sentenced to 293 Years to Life for Molesting Seven Boys as Young as Six Years Old
Defendant preyed on sons of family friends and gave victims money and ice cream to stay quiet about sexual abuse.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A 58-year-old Santa Ana man was sentenced to 293 years to life today for molesting seven boys as young as six. The boys were the sons of family friends whom he was trusted to care for and he often bribed his victims with money and ice cream to keep them quiet about the sexual abuse.
Alex Mauricio Padilla Beltran, 58, of Santa Ana, was convicted by a jury in November 2024 of 16 felony counts of a lewd and lascivious act with a minor under 14 years old, four felony counts of attempted lewd act upon a child under 14, three felony counts of oral copulation of a child 10 years old or younger, and one felony count of forcible lewd act upon a child under 14.
Beltran previously pled guilty to felony coercion and misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime in connection with a 2009 incident in Las Vegas involving the sons of the contractor he hired to renovate his home. Beltran gave the 12-year-old boy $10 after groping him and kissing him on the mouth and told him not to tell his parents, but the boy did disclose the abuse after his mother noticed him acting oddly. His 10-year-old brother also told his parents that Beltran had taken him in a backroom and groped him. Beltran was sentenced by a Nevada judge to probation and ordered to stay away from minor children.
Beltran was charged in Orange County in incidents between 2003 and 2017 involving seven different boys ranging from six to 13 years old. In one of the incidents, Beltran locked a bedroom door and held down a six-year-old boy while he orally copulated the child.
“Far too often, it’s not just the monsters hiding under the bed that we have to worry about,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “It’s the monsters hiding in plain sight at family birthday parties and around our kitchen tables, waiting for the perfect moment to prey on an innocent child for their sadistic sexual gratification. The scars of child sexual abuse last a lifetime as does the guilt parents must live with knowing their child was in the arms of a parents’ worst nightmare instead of a trusted friend.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Tara Meath of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
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