Angel Rojas, School Janitor, Gets 9 mos. in Jail for Hiding Camera in Girls Restroom: Update

See Update No. 2 at the end of this post on Angel Rojas Jr. being sentenced to 270 days in jail and the other punishment he received. See Update No. 1 on the next page on the Corona man being convicted of locking the doors of several elementary school restrooms to direct girls to use one where he had set up a small hidden camera so he could collect pornographic images.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 7, 9:11 A.M.: A Santa Ana Unified School District janitor faces trial today for allegedly hiding a camera in the bathroom stall of a women's restroom at Glenn L. Martin Elementary School.

Baby-faced Angel Rojas Jr., 25, of Corona, could get more than a year in jail, a $6,000 fine and a lifetime of registering as a sex offender with a conviction.

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Rojas worked as a summer janitor for the school district beginning in June 2012. A woman with Martin Elementary's summer school program found the camera in the bathroom stall that July and turned it over to the district's police department, which launched an investigation.

It was discovered the camera had video of the woman who found it using the restroom and that on July 16, 2012, Rojas had locked all the women's restroom on campus except the one with the camera, according to prosecutors. He was arrested on July 25, 2012.

Rojas is charged with one misdemeanor count each of disorderly conduct for secretly filming another and child annoyance, with the maximum jail sentence being a year and six months.

UPDATE NO. 1, MAY 10, 8 A.M.: Former Santa Ana schools Angel Rojas Jr. was convicted Thursday of locking the doors of several restrooms to direct girls to use one at an elementary school where he had set up a small hidden camera so he could collect
pornographic images of the children.

The Corona 25-year-old was found guilty of secretly taping girls in the bathroom at Glenn L. Martin Elementary School and child annoyance, both misdemeanors. Jurors deliberated about an hour, and Rojas, who had been free on bail, was handcuffed and taken to jail after the verdicts were read. His attorney, Ernest Delamora, asked Orange County Superior Court Judge James Crandall to allow his client to remain free until sentencing Tuesday, but City News Service reports the judge explaining, “Although it's a misdemeanor, these are reprehensible crimes; and the victims are children.''

Deputy District Attorney Cheryl Gold says she'll argue for 270 days in jail and mandatory registration as a sex offender. A statement from her office says the maximum sentence Rojas faces is Rojas faces is a year and six months in jail, a $6,000 fine and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration

The Santa Ana cop who confronted Rojas testified the suspect said he cannot control his urge to view child porn and shot the secret images because they are not available in shops or on the Internet. But Delamora accused the officer of typing notes from a recording that was later destroyed because it contained evidence that would have exonerated his client.

UPDATE NO. 2, MAY 15, 9:07 A.M.: Rojas was sentenced Tuesday to 270 days in jail and three years of formal probation, according to an Orange County District Attorney's office statement.

He was also ordered to pay $7,000 in fines and register for life as a sex offender.

Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

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