Aliso Viejo Teacher, Coach Gets 15 Years For Sex Tourism

ALISO VIEJO, CA — A former Dana Hills High School Spanish teacher and youth baseball coach previously convicted of traveling to China to have sex with a 16-year-old youth will spend 15 years in federal prison, court records show.

In 2009, Ezequiel Christopher Barragan, 53 of Aliso Viejo, traveled to China, where he coerced a boy to engage in sexual conduct and took sexually explicit photographs, which he brought back to Southern California, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Barragan pleaded guilty in 2018 to two federal counts: traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place.
He faces between 12 and 15 years behind bars when sentenced in
downtown Los Angeles, according to his plea deal. He will also be ordered to serve 20 years of supervised release following his prison term and register as a sex offender for life, the document shows.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Damaris Diaz previously said that Barragan
traveled to numerous foreign countries between 1998 and 2012 to have sex with boys. She said a restitution amount would be determined for the victim in the current case.

In September 2016, Barragan was sentenced to five years in state prison after admitting to sexually assaulting a teenage boy he met while serving as a court-appointed advocate.

Such advocates are typically paired with children who have suffered abuse and neglect. They are meant to serve as the advocate for a child's interests in court.

City News Service, Patch editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.