‘The justice system failed me.’ Hesperia man acquitted in child sex abuse case sues county

A former janitor at a San Bernardino County elementary school who was acquitted by a jury of child sexual abuse allegations after spending nearly five years in jail fighting the case has sued San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials and prosecutors for alleged misconduct.

Attorneys for Pedro “Pete” Martinez and his wife filed the lawsuit claiming false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and other violations of civil rights Monday in federal court.

It alleges that both San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigators and a San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor aggressively pursued conviction in the case, despite it being based on “bizarre, fantastical, impossible” claims made by a “a self-confessed opioid addict with a criminal history who had repeatedly made multiple extremely similar allegations against others, including two nearly identical allegations against others made during the year Mr. Martinez was arrested.”

Martinez was jailed from the time of his arrest on Jan. 22, 2019, until a San Bernardino County Superior Court found him not guilty of all 10 felony charges filed against him on Dec. 11, 2023. An 11th charge had been dismissed previously due to lack of supporting evidence. He was released from custody the same day.

Had he been convicted as charged, he could have faced multiple life sentenced in prison.

2024.12.02 Martinez – Complaint | PDF | Deposition (Law) | Lawsuit

‘They made a mistake’

He had worked as a janitor at Maple Elementary School in Hesperia for nearly 14 years when he was first informed he was being accused of sexually abusing four young students of the school, he said. At first, he said he expected officials would realize he was innocent and set him free within hours. But the hours turned to days, months and years, while he remained unable to post the $2.2 million bond required for his release prior to trial.

“As you can imagine, it’s twisted my mental state quite a bit to the point where I find myself depressed,” said Martinez, now 51. “I don’t think I’ve slept eight hours in six years.”

Martinez said he had never been arrested before as he recalled his first day in jail.

“It was my first experience ever in a situation like this. I never had so much as a parking ticket in my life,” he said. “It was horrible. And even then, I still held on to this little hope that ‘They made a mistake. I’m sure in hours they’ll figure it out.'”

As the years passed behind bars, “I held on to as much hope as I could,” Martinez said.

Being separated from his family, including his wife and two adult children, was the hardest aspect, he said. For a year or so at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, even family visits were stopped.

“Not being able to see anyone was devastating,” Martinez said. Martinez’s wife had to work 60-hour workweeks to keep up the household while he was in jail.

Both the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office declined to comment on the pending litigation.

‘Overwhelming evidence of innocence’

Attorney Katherine McBroom of the Law Offices of Ian Wallach, who represents Martinez, said the arrest and prosecution should never have taken place, due to the incredibility of the accusations and lack of physical evidence.

“It’s unfortunate to me that it took 12 strangers with no training to do the right thing and actually evaluate the evidence,” she said.

“Pedro Martinez endured nearly five years of wrongful incarceration, separated from his family and forced to endure the stigma of baseless allegations, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence,” McBroom said. “This case is a stark reminder of what happens when investigations are driven by bias and disregard for due process. We must hold those responsible accountable to safeguard the integrity of our legal system and ensure this never happens to anyone else.”

In addition to seeking compensation for her client, “The hope is, from here, the county will implement better training and better supervision, including an effort to observe their oaths to serve everyone in the community, including the accused, to conduct thorough, unbiased investigation so we can avoid this tunnel vision that happens.”

‘Absurd and fantastical claims’

The case against Martinez primarily resulted from the “easily disprovable” claims by a highly unreliable witness, according to McBroom.

“(The) allegations were so impossible and fantastical that any prudent person or law enforcement officer would have investigated her background to determine their veracity rather than taken her word at face value,” the complaint continued.

Among the allegations were that “Mr. Martinez had collected multiple children for group rapes that took place on a daily basis every Monday through Thursday over a several month period,” according to the claim.

In addition to the County of San Bernardino and it’s sheriff’s department, the defendants named in the lawsuit include two sheriff’s detectives, a sheriff’s deputy, the prosecutor and an attorney representing one of the alleged victims in pending civil litigation against the Hesperia Unified School District, according to court documents and McBroom.

The initial complainant who first brought the allegations told investigators she had determined Martinez had molested the daughter of her then-girlfriend and three other boys at the school based on conversations with her girlfriend’s son and observations of the boys’ behavior together, McBroom said.

The criminal case involved only two of the accusers, as the other two consistently maintained nothing criminal had occurred, she said.

Of the two accusers for whom charges were filed against Martinez, both also initially told investigators nothing had happened.

“Despite intense leading and repetitive questioning by (the initial investigating deputy), which was wholly inconsistent with the minimal training (4 hours) that (he) received from Defendant SBCSD, (the three boys) repeatedly denied any abuse by anyone (including Mr. Martinez),” according to the complaint.

During the audio-recorded interviews, one of the boys “eventually succumbed to (the deputy’s) manipulation as a result of the repetitive, suggestive questioning, use of offers of candy and praise, and discouragement of denials,” the suit alleges.

The other boy for whom charges were filed maintained in interviews he had not been molested until the day he was called to testify at Martinez’s trial, McBroom said.

The boy testified that the attorney named in the lawsuit, along with a San Francisco-based therapist, had since “helped (him) to remember” that he had been abused.

‘Zero physical evidence’

Sexual Assault Response Team examinations found no evidence of abuse, the lawsuit claims. Clothing that has been worn by the victims during the alleged abuse was tested, with no bodily fluids or DNA recovered. The janitor’s closet where the alleged assault took place showed no detectible traces of blood or semen.

“There is zero physical evidence at all,” McBroom said.

“And once these Defendants learned that the allegations were untrue, rather than having the integrity to terminate the baseless prosecution against Mr. Martinez, they instead chose to attempt to preserve the integrity of the failed investigation and each other’s reputations by pursuing the baseless claims against Mr. Martinez,” the claim argues. “These Defendants hid exculpatory evidence, coached witnesses, and rather than even review the overwhelming exculpatory evidence, sought to hide such evidence from the jury and/or preclude its presentation.”

Martinez said the experience has altered his view of law enforcement and the justice system.

More: Former Hesperia school janitor exonerated of child sex abuse charges after years in jail

“I used to always hold our law enforcement up there with our military and firefighters,” he said. “With what’s happened, it’s hard for me to hold them in such a high regard. The justice system failed me.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages and demands a trial by jury.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Man acquitted in molestation case sues San Bernardino County

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