Custodian Enters Not Guilty Plea

SANTA ANA — A Villa Park High School custodian pleaded not guilty Monday in Municipal Court here to charges that he molested a 9-year-old girl during a swim meet on campus.

Marco Antonio Reyes, 46, who has worked for the Orange Unified School District since 1985, is charged with the March 20 kidnaping, child molestation and forced oral copulation of a Huntington Beach girl. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 51 years in prison, prosecutors said.

According to police, the girl was on her way to a restroom when she was accosted and threatened with a pair of scissors. Her attacker then took her to a lounge area where he physically molested her, authorities said.

Reyes’ attorney, Dennis O’Connell, contends that his client was not on campus at the time of the attack.

“It will be an alibi defense,” O’Connell said Monday outside the courtroom. “I’m aware of at least four witnesses who said that the defendant was at another location during the assault.”

Reyes’ family has maintained that he was at home an hour before the attack.

The Orange resident remains in Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court May 3 for a preliminary hearing, which will determine whether there is enough evidence to try him on the charges in Superior Court.