San Jose Man Charged With Sexually Abusing Kids At His Daycare Facility

A San Jose man who ran an in-home daycare with his wife has been charged with sexually abusing children entrusted to their care, authorities said. The daycare was operational for a decade and closed down in 2017.

John Mario Cortez, 36, was arrested last week after three girls alleged Cortez molested them at his daycare facility that operated at the Evergreen area in San Jose. The victims were between the ages of 3 and 8 years old when the incidents happened, CBS San Francisco reported.

The daycare “Growing in Grace” was operational from 2007 through 2017 after which Cortez and his wife moved to the Central Valley town of Lathrop, investigators said.

The incident came to light in February after one of the victims told her friends and a psychiatrist that she had been sexually abused by Cortez, Mercury News reported.

Soon, San Jose Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force and Child Exploitation Detail took over the investigation. The girl gave a statement to the detectives that while in the care of “Growing In Grace,” Cortez molested her multiple times over five years. The abuse stopped when the daycare closed in 2017.

In March, another girl came forward leveling a similar allegation against Cortez. She said that the man abused her 12 to 13 years ago, during the daycare’s early years when she was just three years old.

The police officials then found out that in 2012, Cortez was accused of molesting another 3-year-old girl. He denied the claim at the time and no charges were filed against him as prosecutors cited insufficient evidence. In the light of the new allegations, officers decided to consider this case too.

Two of the girls stated that they suspect other girls at the daycare may have also experienced abuse from Cortez.

Following this, Cortez was criminally charged on June 14. San Jose police detectives and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Lathrop Police Services Division arrested him last week from his home in Lathrop.

He faces eight counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and one count of sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child. Cortez is currently being held without bail in the Elmwood men’s jail following his arraignment last Friday. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 25 years to life in prison.

Meanwhile, police have also asked anyone with information about other potential instances of abuse involving Cortez to contact Detective Armando Ramos at 408-537-1397 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.