Crime & Safety
Former Walnut Creek School Worker Faces 12 Molestation Charges
A criminal complaint outlines the disturbing child molestation charges. The alleged abuse began when the child was less than 10 years old.
WALNUT CREEK, CA — A 12-count criminal complaint has been filed against a groundskeeper who worked at a school near Walnut Creek and is accused of child molestation, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office.
The charges filed Thursday against Enrique Pina, 71, are for sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child; oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child; and forcible lewd act upon a child. In some of the charges, the victim was younger than 10 years old at the time, prosecutors allege.
Pina was arrested Sept. 24 after detectives investigated allegations involving a female victim who is not a student where Pina worked, Palmer School at 2740 Jones Road.
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The 12 criminal counts accuse Pina of molesting a child over a six-year period, from July 4, 2009, to Dec. 12, 2015.
Pina had been set for arraignment on Friday, but the hearing was continued to Oct. 9, district attorney's office spokesman Scott Alonso said.
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Palmer School sent a letter to parents last week, clarifying that the allegations against Pina don't involve one of their students, and said they had conducted a background check on Pina. He has no prior criminal record, according to the school.
Palmer School offers classes from junior kindergarten through eighth grade.
A former student at the school who asked not to be identified was in disbelief last week after hearing of the allegations against Pina, also known as Henry.
She said Henry was seen often around the campus "on this little scooter and when he would drive past people he would say, 'beep beep' to pass you."
She said one of her friends spoke Spanish as her primary language so she would always talk to him in the morning before school.
"It seemed genuine and not creepy or anything," she said.
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— Bay City News; Image via Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office
