A South Bay man has been charged with sexually molesting teenage children during church trips at his house on a Morgan Hill lake, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The case against 54-year-old Norlan Macias, of San Jose, was launched several years ago when a retired police officer heard a man describing a molestation on a podcast called, “Preacher Boys,” says a press release from the DAs office.
Macias is charged with molestations that allegedly happened during a period that lasted longer than a decade, between 2001-2012.
Police and prosecutors are seeking others who may have been victims of Macias, who was a janitor at the Campbell Union and Mountain View school districts, the DA said.
Macias faces 11 counts of felony sexual molestation of five minors, ranging from 8-17, according to authorities. His arraignment is scheduled for 1:30pm July 11 in department 23 in the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
“I would like to thank the retired police officer for his diligence and dedication,” DA Jeff Rosen said. “As with many officers, his mission of protecting our community’s children never stopped. I hope all of us take that same responsibility.”
The case against Macias began in 2020, when a retired San Jose Police Officer recognized Macias from the video podcast, which documents child abuse associated with religious institutions, the press release says. The retired officer called 911.
The defendant used to take a group of teenage parishioners of the North Valley Baptist Church out on a boat at Lake Anderson in Morgan Hill, Rosen’s office said. The boys would then go to the defendant’s house in Morgan Hill, where the molestations took place.
While investigating this case, a detective stumbled on a 2013 report by a minor who said that he, too, was molested by Macias, authorities said. The minor said the defendant lived near him and that he molested him after hiring him to do work on his home. After the initial statement, that case was closed due to lack of victim cooperation.
Anyone with information about the suspect and molestation can contact Deputy DA Joanna Lee at jo****@da*.org.
