[FoxNews] Flores Ortiz, originally from El Salvador, has 135 days remaining after time served.
Israel Flores Ortiz, 18, an illegal alien, was sentenced to 360 days on Tuesday after being convicted for groping several female classmates in Fairfax High School hallways earlier this year.
With time served and the calculations for a misdemeanor, he has 135 days left in prison.
Judge Melinda Vanlowe delivered the sentence, calling it a "very difficult case," adding the actions were "targeted" and representing a "pattern" of "deplorable" behavior.
Fairfax County public defender Jamie Hospes asked Judge Vanlowe for a sentence of 9 days, calling the offenses just "butt-grabbing," adding, "sometimes we arrest people for that, sometimes we elect them to be president of the United States."
Flores Ortiz wore a green prison jumpsuit and listened to the proceedings through an interpreter.
He read a statement in Spanish, saying he apologized to the girls he had grabbed and their families.
"I hurt them," he said, also apologizing to his own mother and father.
Flores Ortiz was charged as an adult, but he was tried in juvenile court because most of the victims were minors. He was convicted in nine cases, acquitted in three and had one charge dismissed. He had originally been accused of assaulting 13 female classmates, according to the Fairfax Police Department.
The case had heightened concerns among parents about student safety after years of former President Joe Biden's open borders policy.
Flores Ortiz, originally from El Salvador, is in the country illegally, having reportedly arrived in 2024.
The defense asked the court to impose just nine days of incarceration, arguing Flores Ortiz’s age should weigh heavily in sentencing. Counsel said his "brain is physically not as developed" as that of a 25-year-old and argued his actions were not driven by sexual gratification.
Instead, the defense characterized the assaults as immature behavior, telling the court Flores Ortiz acted "for fun" and that "it was like a joke or prank."
"Only a teenager would think like that," counsel said.
| Only a teenager who had absolutely no respect for American girls, and felt himself entitled to take from them what he pleased. Send him home to El Salvador to finish out his sentence. |
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