INDIO, CA — A Palm Springs man who sexually assaulted multiple girls throughout Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, enticing them with illegal drugs and using them to make child pornography, is slated to be sentenced Friday to 22 years in state prison.
Jesse James Garcia Airada, 29, pleaded guilty in August to two counts of rape, three counts of contacting a minor for the purpose of perpetrating a felony, and one count each of oral copulation of a minor, providing controlled substances to a child, using a minor to produce child porn and penetration with a foreign object, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of raping a minor.
The plea was negotiated with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, and in exchange for Airada's admissions, prosecutors dropped three dozen related charges against him.
Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini is expected to impose the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense during the hearing Friday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Airada is being held without bail at the nearby Benoit Detention Center.
According to sheriff's Sgt. Chris Gelinas, in May 2025, deputies were alerted to an assault involving an eastern Coachella Valley girl, and during the investigation, Airada was identified as the assailant.
"It was learned the suspect had contacted multiple underage females and was offering illegal substances in exchange for sex," Gelinas said after the defendant's arrest last fall. "Investigators were able to identify multiple underage female victims throughout Riverside County."
Court documents identified the youths only by their initials -- "E.G.," "E.H.," "E.J.," "I.M.," "J.W.," "M.B.," "T.M." and "V.K."
Prosecutors said that some of the girls were plied with marijuana and cocaine to gain their trust and cooperation.
Assaults occurred from January 2024 to November 2025 in Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, according to the criminal complaint.
Specific locations were not disclosed, and authorities didn't elaborate on how the defendant initiated communication with the minors.
A search warrant was obtained and served on Airada last November at a property in the area of Lawrence Crossley Road and Highway 111, where he was taken into custody without incident.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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