SANTA ANA — A 60-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of molesting two girls; and attempting to molest another one in a sting operation in a Huntington Beach hotel.
Jason V. Esparza would get women to babysit children as young as 4 so he could have access to them to molest them, police said in testimony at his preliminary hearing.
Huntington Beach police received a tip about him in September 2022 and set up an eight-month long investigation in which an agent posed as a woman babysitting a 4-year-old girl, according to prosecutors.
Esparza told the undercover agent of his wish to molest the girl, prosecutors said.
The sting operation with Huntington Beach police was conducted in April 2023.
After his arrest, authorities said Esparza is originally from Warren, Ohio, but has ties to Huntington Beach, Fullerton and Long Beach.