A 14-year-old Morgan Hill girl is the second to come forward in
the case of a San Jose man charged with child molestation.
A 14-year-old Morgan Hill girl is the second to come forward in the case of a San Jose man charged with child molestation.
Alan Benderas, 20, remains in the Santa Clara County jail, where he has been since his arrest on the first molestation charge in August.
On Aug. 7, Benderas allegedly approached a 12-year-old female in Community Park and asked her if she would consider modeling nude. He asked her if she was 18, the girl said, and she told him her age. After allegedly trying to lift up her shirt and shorts, he gave her a business card and left.
Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling located Benderas a day and a half later by using the business card. He was arrested and held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
The 14-year-old contacted Morgan Hill Police to report Benderas allegedly approached her at a teen Christian activity center in July.
“The subject apparently asked her the same type of questions (as he allegedly did in the earlier case), only much more graphic,” Hoefling said Monday. “He (allegedly) asked her about her sexual experience and her preferred dress during those activities.”
Hoefling said Benderas allegedly told the 14-year-old he was making a video and asked her if she would be interested in posing for it.
“She advised him that she was 14 and that she wasn’t interested,” he said. “He then went to his car, returned with an ‘application’ and began reading her questions from it.”
The victim left the teen center, Hoefling said, and went to a nearby park to use the restroom. Benderas allegedly followed her and approached her in the parking lot.
Benderas was arraigned Monday on the additional charge, a misdemeanor charge of child molestation, and an additional $10,000 bail amount was added.
Anyone with additional information about the case or who may have also been a victim is asked to contact the Morgan Hill Police Department, 779-2101.
