El Monte man arrested for sex crimes against children; further victims feared

EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- A 20-year-old El Monte man has been arrested, accused of molesting at least five children. Police are concerned there may be further victims.

Johnny Beserra III was arrested on May 24. The L.A. County District Attorney's Office has filed 14 counts of sex crimes against children, including lewd acts with a child, sodomy and oral copulation. The allegations are under investigation, and police say they are concerned there may be more unidentified victims.

Beserra remained in custody Wednesday on $9 million bail.

Beserra was a volunteer at the United Pentecostal Church and El Monte Christian Academy. El Monte Police say some of the alleged molestation happened on church and school property. The investigation began about a month ago.

"A family member brought a child to our facility indicating they were concerned that some type of inappropriate activity had occurred," said El Monte Police Lt. Christopher Williams. "At that point in time, our investigation began and we conducted interviews with the children and also the parents. That led to eventual location of the suspect and his eventual arrest."

Lt. Williams says their investigation has revealed the alleged molestation of four boys and one girl date back to august of 2010.

El Monte Police say as soon as the allegations against Beserra were brought to the church administration's attention, the pastor notified police.

"Obviously concerned that there is other victims that were children present. They've given us the ability to interview all of those children that attend that church or the school," said Williams. "During those interviews they were very cooperative in making sure that we had every resource available to us that they could offer. We've been very happy with their cooperation in this investigation."

Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact El Monte Police Department at (626) 580-2154.