US man accused of molesting minor girls in swimming class gets 4 life sentences

Florida: A man in Deerfield in the United States was handed four life sentences on Friday for molesting three minor girls at a swimming class. Prior to this, he had turned down a plea deal that would have him spend 25 years in jail.

According to a report in Daily Mail, the accused, 28-year-old Francisco Xavier de Aragon II was found guilty of one count of sexual battery on a child, three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, and one count of battery on May 18.

The three six-year-old victims claimed that he had groped them under their bathing suits while he taught them swimming in 2015. One also accused him of touching her private parts. The swimming instructor denied the claims saying that it could have been a result of his teaching technique.

De Aragon also said that there may have been accidental contact which was misinterpreted but prosecutor Patyl Oflazian dismissed his claims. “I don't understand, in what swimming technique, has it ever been taught that your hand would go inside of a child's bathing suit bottom, and that your finger would then penetrate that child's vagina”, she said.

Oflazian also appreciated the bravery of the victims in coming forward and reporting the abuse which took place in Deerfield Beach Aquatics Centre in 2015.