Former Firebaugh High School Principal Jonas Silverio
Story Published:
Sep 18, 2009 at 4:06 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Sep 21, 2009 at 4:36 PM PDT
LYNWOOD — An additional count has been filed against former Firebaugh High School Principal Jonas Silverio.
Detective Marvin Jaramilla of the Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau said Friday that an 18th count, committing a continuous lewd act on a child, has been added to the 17 charges Silverio is facing in Compton Superior Court.
Jaramilla said the ongoing investigation has uncovered a possible additional victim from a private school in the La Crescenta area.
Two of the alleged victims are former Lynwood students. A third is from Whittier.
Silverio remains in custody at the county’s Twin Towers jail facility. He is awaiting a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to make him stand trial in the case. The hearing is set for Sept. 29 at Compton Superior Court.
Silverio could face a life sentence in state prison if convicted on all 18 charges.
Silverio was put on administrative leave with pay by the Lynwood school board in May after the board learned he was under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department. He officially resigned as principal of Firebaugh on June 10, effective June 30.
He was arrested July 8 at Los Angeles International Airport as he was returning from a trip to the Philippines.
FBI agents had flagged his passport and upon his purchase of a return ticket to Los Angeles, authorities were immediately notified. He was taken into custody as he got off the plane.
Silverio’s California Teaching Credential has been temporarily suspended, pending the outcome of the case.
Jaramilla said the ongoing investigation is looking into allegations that extend to the early 1990s.
The investigation already has revealed a 1995 conviction in Glendale Superior Court on one count of lewd acts on a child. Records show that Silverio pleaded no contest in that case and Glendale Superior Court records show that the conviction was expunged in 1996.
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office could find no evidence of the conviction or the expungement.
“We’re looking at allegations that go back to the early ‘90s … looking as to what happened then, and to what has happened over the years, and why the ‘95 charge didn’t stick,” Jaramilla said.
Part of Jaramilla’s investigation is delving into how Silverio obtained a California Teaching Credential in 1998.
In July, a spokesperson for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing said he was uncertain how Silverio was granted a credential based on the 1995 conviction.
Lee Pope, general counsel to the commission, said: “When that offense popped up, his application went directly to discretionary review.”
Pope said he was not employed by the commission then.
He said the discretionary review committee at the time apparently was told that the case had been expunged and Silverio’s credential was granted.
A person convicted of sex offenses in California must register as a sex offender. “His credential,” Pope said, “would have automatically been denied or revoked, had that” been the case.
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