Story Created:
Oct 8, 2009 at 12:32 PM PST
Story Updated:
Oct 8, 2009 at 12:32 PM PST
LYNWOOD — The preliminary hearing for former Firebaugh High School Principal Jonas Silverio has been rescheduled for Oct. 20.
Silverio is facing 18 counts of committing lewd acts with a child.
Originally set for Sept. 29 before Judge John Cheroske at Compton Superior Court, the hearing was delayed at the request of Silverio’s counsel, Mark Beallo, who appeared for attorney Harold Greenberg, who apparently was engaged in another trial elsewhere.
Several calls to Greenberg’s office were not returned by presstime.
Detective Marvin Jaramilla of the Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau said this week that it is possible for victims to take the stand during a preliminary hearing, but said he could not confirm whether or not victims will be taking the stand on Oct. 20.
Silverio, who was put on administrative leave with pay by the Lynwood school board in May, resigned as principal of Firebaugh, effective June 30.
He was arrested on July 8 at Los Angeles International Airport by agents from the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he returned from a trip to the Philippines, where authorities believe he fled on May 18, six days after the school board placed him on administrative leave.
FBI agents flagged Silverio’s passport, and upon his purchase of a return ticket to Los Angeles, authorities were immediately notified. Silverio was taken into custody as he got off the plane.
The 18 counts reportedly involve four victims. Two of them are former Lynwood students, one is from Whittier and the fourth is from the La Crescenta area.
Silverio remains in custody at the county’s Twin Towers jail facility downtown.
The investigation against him 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.
According to Jaramilla, the investigation is still open and interviews are still taking place.
Asked if cases like this normally take this long to get to the preliminary hearing phase, the detective said: “Every investigation takes time. I don’t want to say too much. … All I can say is that it’s still being investigated.”
If convicted of all charges, Silverio could face life in state prison.
Jaramilla said he could not comment on an ongoing case. “Right now, all I can say is that during the investigation we found a fourth victim.”
A teacher at Firebaugh High who asked not to be identified said that “things are real quiet on campus” in regards to Silverio.
“People aren’t talking about it,” he said. “I think people are just waiting to see what happens. People used to defend [Silverio] a lot, but now I think they’re afraid to talk about it.”
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