SAN MARTIN
– A Gilroy man could not help but weep as he pleaded guilty to
seven charges relating to having sex with two teen-age girls.
Robin Ofiana was one of five men, all in county jail custody,
who appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court Friday morning to
face accusations that they had sex with minors. In the other four
cases, court action was continued to later dates.
SAN MARTIN – A Gilroy man could not help but weep as he pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to having sex with two teen-age girls.
Robin Ofiana was one of five men, all in county jail custody, who appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court Friday morning to face accusations that they had sex with minors. In the other four cases, court action was continued to later dates.
All four are in protective jail custody because of the crimes for which they are accused.
Ofiana, 39, began sobbing while responding “guilty” to the second of the seven charges. They were: Three counts of performing a lewd act with a minor 14 or 15 years old, three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 16 and one count of annoying or molesting a minor under 18.
Ofiana’s wife was in the courtroom and wiped away tears as he entered his plea.
“He wanted to plead guilty,” public defender Jennifer Green said that afternoon. “He just didn’t deny that it happened.”
Green said she represented Ofiana on Friday because his San Jose-based lawyer could not be present.
Judge Ray Cunningham is scheduled to sentence Ofiana June 14. The maximum penalty is six years in prison, according to Green.
Ofiana previously confessed the crimes to Gilroy police between Feb. 24, when they began investigating the case, and March 18, when they arrested him.
According to court records, Ofiana told police he was extremely drunk during each of the incidents and that he also was high on cocaine for at least one of them. He had sex with one victim in spring 2002, had sex twice with a second girl in summer 2002 and tried to proposition the first girl in January of this year.
His wife kicked him out of their house early this year after hearing about the January incident. From then until his arrest, he lived out of his van and continued to work as a driver for a Morgan Hill market, according to the records.
Kevin Bonilla
Green also appeared on behalf of Kevin Bonilla, who faces the possibility of life in prison for a girl’s accusation that he sexually abused her more than 50 times over five years, beginning when she was 10. She is now 16.
Judge Cunningham on Friday reinstated Bonilla’s bail at $1 million after removing the possibility of bail a month before. His plea entry was postponed to May 4. At Green’s request, Cunningham will consider further reducing his bail on that date.
Bonilla seemed relaxed in court, twice joking quietly with inmates seated beside him.
Before his arrest, Bonilla was in counseling and taking medication for psychological issues, he said at his arraignment. At that time, he said jail staff had not been giving him his meds.
Professionally, he was a freelance television photojournalist who had not worked for some time due to injury, according to Wes Stanford, of the Gilroy Police Department. Bonilla had covered sporting events and had been a board member with Gilroy’s Community Access Media Partnership. CMAP’s Web site claimed he got his start with KNTV (NBC) Channel 11 in San Jose and won an Emmy award for a piece on public housing.
James Caudill
James Caudill, also facing life in prison, appeared in a wheelchair in court. The nature of his ailment was unknown.
Caudill’s plea entry was continued for two weeks since the public defender assigned to his case is on paternity leave.
Jose Castillo
In a separate courtroom Friday, Superior Court Judge Kenneth Shapero continued a preliminary hearing for Jose Castillo to May 7. He is charged with sexually molesting a young girl three times, twice when she was between 7 and 9 years old and once when she was 9 or 10. He faces a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.
