Martinez School Construction Worker Pleads Not Guilty Today To Child Molestation

A construction manager at an El Cerrito middle school pleaded not guilty this afternoon to 18 felony counts of sexual acts with a child. Jose Chapa, 69, was working for construction management company SGI, which is contracted by the West Contra Costa Unified School District, when he was arrested on Dec. 9, according to a school district spokesman.

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Chapa pleaded not guilty to 18 felony counts of sexual acts with a child, including oral copulation, for alleged crimes committed against one child from 2006 to 2014, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

Four women who identified themselves as Chapa’s sisters were at the arraignment today inside the A.F. Bray Courthouse in Martinez, where Judge David Flinn presided.

“These are allegations with a capital A,” said one of the sisters, who declined to give her name. “We don’t believe he’s guilty. This is America where you are not proven guilty until you are guilty.”

Chapa has worked on projects within the West Contra Costa Unified School District since 2002 and was working at Fred T. Korematsu Middle School in El Cerrito before he was arrested, school district spokesman Marcus Walton said.

A spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said the victim was not linked to any school. Chapa is scheduled to be back in court on March 12.

--Bay City News

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