Guard Held in Molestations; 40-Year History Suspected

A San Jose security guard who police believe has been molesting children for more than 40 years was charged in a Santa Clara County courtroom Monday with 21 felony counts of child molestation.

Richard Cardoza Hernandez, 59, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting several boys ranging in age from 7 to 13, said San Jose Police Officer Louis Quezada. Hernandez, the officer said, has no criminal record.

“We believe this man may have preyed on children in excess of 40 years,” Quezada said, declining to explain why police believe the molestations occurred over so long a period.

“This is the scary part: He was an excellent predator who knew how not to get caught.”

Hernandez, represented by a public defender in his court appearance Monday, did not enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail until his next court appearance Dec. 3.

His attorney could not be reached for comment Monday.

Quezada said detectives who interviewed Hernandez and his alleged victims believe that the security guard, who been working part time at a hospital, lured the young boys to his home by promising to let them watch cable television. He allegedly gave gifts to some of them. Detectives would not say how he may have met the boys.

But detectives, Quezada said, “believe that there are additional [molestation] victims throughout Santa Clara County.” Hernandez moved from Gilroy to San Jose in 1988.

Police began investigating him in October after an anonymous caller contacted the department’s child exploitation unit.

The caller, who said he was 20, alleged that he had been molested by Hernandez years ago and provided detectives with the names of three boys he said were currently being molested by Hernandez, Quezada said.

Police questioned the three, who confirmed that they had been molested, Quezada said. The boys also gave investigators the names of three additional boys they believed had been molested. Those boys also told officers Hernandez had molested them, Quezada said.

Police searched the security guard’s apartment and took him into custody, initially booking him on suspicion of 120 counts of child molestation.

Calling the case “egregious,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Victoria Brown, head of Santa Clara County’s sexual assault unit, filed 21 charges against Hernandez, alleging that he committed multiple “lewd and lascivious acts” on five boys.

The investigation, she said, is continuing and more charges may yet be filed.

“But with 21 counts of molestation, he is looking at over 200 years to life if he is convicted,” Brown said.

She said the boys already interviewed by detectives have been traumatized by their experiences and are receiving counseling.