Man Who Molested 7 Young Boys In OC Gets 290+ Years In Prison

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A 58-year-old Orange County man was sentenced to 293 years to life in prison for molesting seven boys as young as 6-years-old, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced.

Santa Ana resident Alex Mauricio Padilla Beltran, 58, was convicted by a jury in Nov. 2024 of 16 felony counts of a lewd and lascivious act with a minor under 14 years old, four felony counts of attempted lewd act upon a child under 14, three felony counts of oral copulation of a child 10 years old or younger, and one felony count of forcible lewd act upon a child under 14.

According to OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer, Beltran preyed on the sons of family friends and gave victims money and ice cream to stay quiet about ongoing sexual abuse.

The defendant previously pled guilty to felony coercion and misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime in connection with a 2009 incident in Las Vegas involving the sons of the contractor he hired to renovate his home.

According to Spitzer, Beltran gave the son of the unnamed contractor — 12-year-old boy — $10 after groping him and kissing him on the mouth and told him not to tell his parents. Beltran also groped the victim's brother, a 10-year-old child, Spitzer said.

Beltran was sentenced by a Nevada judge to probation and ordered to stay away from minor children, Spitzer said.

However, Beltran was additionally charged in Orange County in incidents between 2003 and 2017 involving seven different boys ranging from 6 to 13 years old. In one of the incidents, Spitzer said, Beltran locked a bedroom door and held down a six-year-old boy while he orally copulated the child.

"Far too often, it's not just the monsters hiding under the bed that we have to worry about," Spitzer said. "It's the monsters hiding in plain sight at family birthday parties and around our kitchen tables, waiting for the perfect moment to prey on an innocent child for their sadistic sexual gratification."