Soccer Coach of California Teen Found Dead Being Charged With His Murder

5:30 PM PST -- Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman just announced that Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino faces a possible maximum sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He was also charged in a separate case with one felony count of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense. Garcia-Aquino is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in February 2024. If convicted as charged, he faces a possible maximum sentence of six years in state prison on that case.

A soccer coach who a Los Angeles family says was the last person who had contact with their dead son is being charged with the boy's murder ... TMZ has learned.

The missing 13-year-old boy Oscar Omar Hernandez was found dead in a ditch last week in Oxnard and his family says he was last seen with his soccer coach, 43-year-old Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Aquino is being charged with Oscar's murder.

As we reported ... Aquino was named a person of interest in the boy's disappearance -- and he was arrested last week by LAPD detectives on a warrant from an unrelated sexual assault case that was previously investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna are holding a press conference later today to announce the murder charge against Aquino.