Ex-Teacher Pleads Guilty to Importing Boys for Sexual Acts
A former teacher at a Roman Catholic high school in East Los Angeles, still awaiting trial on child molestation charges in state court, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges that he “imported” boys from Latin America and sexually assaulted them.
Clutching a red Bible and wearing a blue prison jump suit, John Karl Herriot appeared before U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler to enter guilty pleas on two of the seven counts filed against him in a Jan. 9 federal grand jury indictment.
Stotler is to sentence Herriot April 19 on one count of importing a 13-year-old Mexican boy for immoral purposes and one count of transporting two illegal alien boys within the United States.
Could Get 15 Years
The 33-year-old Herriot faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of $7,000.
At the time of the indictment, Assistant U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin said Herriot is believed to have molested at least 15 youths, including two boys he took from orphanages in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Until his arrest on molestation charges last summer, Herriot had been a teacher at Our Lady of Soledad School in East Los Angeles. According to Karlin, he also worked as a Boy Scout leader and baseball coach in Los Angeles and El Paso, Tex., where he formerly lived.
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