Child Molester Sentenced After Confessing On CHP Application

An El Monte man who was arrested in 2009 for the molestation of a five-year-old girl and possession of child pornography has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, reports the LA Times.

Christian Hernandez, 31, was arrested in 2009 after admitting to viewing child pornography on an employment questionnaire for the California Highway Patrol. He consequently pled guilty to one count of production of child pornography in connection with ongoing sexual molestation of the girl in question. The judge of the case, Otis D. Wright II, said that the brother of the girl in the photos accused Hernandez of molesting him as well when he was about five years old, reports The Wave.

Hernandez has received the maximum amount of jail time for the offense, and must be supervised for the rest of his life. He has also been ordered to pay over $71,000 to cover counseling costs for the victim--icing on the cake for a man who wanted to professionally enforce the law.

In October of 2008, Hernandez applied to be an officer with the CHP. According to the FBI, he marked on an employment questionnaire that he had accessed illegal pornography online, and that he had viewed illicit photos of a minor as recently as one month prior to the application. His would-be employers did their job and promptly began an investigation of his home, in which they found child pornography on his computer. The images included "sexually explicit photos of a girl, approximately five years old, in sexual positions with a man identified as Hernandez," apparently in his own bedroom. We don't know if Hernandez is really that dumb or if he wanted to get caught, but he clearly has gotten himself into a lot of trouble. Indeed, LA Weekly reports that he is facing more charges from the LA County District Attorney, while The Wave says that state charges are likely.