Jose Zamora - Repeat Sex Offender

A sex offender married to a local school board member pleaded guilty Thursday to molesting a teen.

Shiara Davila-Morales, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said Jose Zamora of Santa Fe Springs faces a maximum of three years in prison at his July 16 sentencing in Whittier Superior Court.

She said he pleaded guilty to child molesting with a prior conviction.

A second charge of lewd acts upon a child is expected to be dismissed by the judge at Zamora's sentencing, Davila-Morales said.

Zamora was facing a maximum of three years and eight months in prison if convicted of the two felony charges.

He was accused of molesting two teens; one was 16 when the incident happened Dec. 28, 2009 while the other girl was 14 when he allegedly committed a lewd act upon her on or between Jan. 1, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2004.

Zamora is married to Hilda Zamora, a trustee for the Little Lake City School District. She didn't return calls seeking comment on Friday.

His attorney, Douglas Miranda, didn't reply to an e-mail or return a phone call.

Authorities didn't say how Zamora met the two teens, where the incidents happened and how police found out.

Davila-Morales said the victim wasn't a student and the molestation didn't happen at a school in the district.

"The DA's Office is not providing information that would identify any of the victims in this traumatic case. Our position is to protect the victims in these very traumatic cases who have suffered enough," she said.

Zamora was already a registered sex offender when he was arrested on the new charges. He is listed in the California Megan's Law database of sex offenders for a 2006 case where the victim was a 13-year-old girl.

He pleaded no contest on Jan. 4, 2006 to a misdemeanor count of annoying a child and was sentenced to three years' probation and 312 hours of community service, according to Jane Robison, another spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.

Court records show a charge of lewd acts on a child was dismissed at the same time.

He's been in custody since Whittier police arrested him April 20 at the Police Services Center, 11576 Telegraph Road in Santa Fe Springs. He is being held at Men's Central Jail in lieu of $170,000 bail.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte

"On average most sex offenders are never caught again for a new sex offense, after five years, between 10 and 15 percent of sex offenders are detected, often convicted, of committing a new sex offense. If you follow them for ten years the rates go up somewhat, if you follow them as long as we’ve been able to follow them, which is about 20 years, the rates go up to somewhere between 30 to 40 percent of the total sample will eventually be caught for a new sex offense."

Dr. R. Karl Hansen