Man Held on Suspicion of Molesting 6 Children

A 64-year-old Santa Ana widower has been arrested on suspicion of sexually molesting at least six children in his neighborhood over the past two years and forcing them to pose for pornographic photos, authorities said Friday.

Seferino Sarinana, 64, a retired laborer, was arrested May 24 on 26 felony counts of child molestation, Santa Ana police investigator Benny Rodriguez said. Sarinana is being held in Orange County Jail without bail pending arraignment.

Rodriguez said a 7-year-old neighbor implicated Sarinana during an interview at Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange where the child, a victim of physical abuse by her father, had been medically examined. The exam showed evidence of sexual molestation, Rodriguez said.

“She disclosed names to me of other children who frequented (Sarinana’s) residence often,” the officer said. “Subsequent interviews of those children led to other names of child victims.” Sarinana allegedly threatened the children with force, including the use of an unspecified weapon, Rodriguez said.

Sarinana was arrested at his home without incident. The six alleged molestation victims were taken to Orangewood where they were examined and held for six days before being returned to their parents, Rodriguez added.

A search of Sarinana’s duplex, in the 800 block of North Gunther Street where he lived alone, revealed photographs of more neighborhood children under the age of 14 in pornographic poses, Rodriguez said.

The officer said he finished interviewing several children who were photographed on Friday and expected that related charges involving three more victims would be filed against Sarinana.

Sarinana had lived for more than 30 years in the stable, working-class Latino neighborhood where “everybody knows everybody,” Rodriguez said. “They all knew him. He was a typical nice guy. . . .

“He’s a grandfather-type figure,” Rodriguez said. “He’d buy them (the victims) whatever they needed. Toys. Clothing.”

Children, mostly between the ages of 7 and 11, came to Sarinana’s house at “all hours of the day,” Rodriguez said.

Many of the victims are traumatized, the officer said, and are undergoing therapy through the Orange County Child Abuse Service Team at Orangewood.

Their parents, he added, are in “total shock. They couldn’t believe it. How could it happen to their neighborhood? Or their child?”

“It’s one of those things that happens every once in a while to a neighborhood. You never know who your neighbor is going to be.”