Hardworking janitor locked up for five years after crazed woman lied to cops that he was child molester

A California man spent five years in jail after he was wrongfully accused of child molestation and is now suing those involved in his investigation. 

Pedro Martinez was working as a janitor at Maple Elementary School in Hesperia when he became the target of a child molestation probe and wrongfully imprisoned. 

The source of the 'fantastical claims' against him was an admitted opioid addict with a long history of fabricating similar accusations, according to Maritnez in his recent lawsuit. 

Filed on December 2 on behalf of Martinez and his wife Juliette Mondragon de Martinez, the lawsuit alleges Fourth and Fourteenth amendment violations of due process, fabrication of evidence and other wrongdoing. 

It named San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, sheriff's Deputies Josette Tracy and Jonathon Womelsdorf, and Deputy District Attorney Deena Pribble, as defendants. 

A personal injury attorney representing one of Martinez's alleged victims, Paul Matiasic, is also named as a defendant. Matiasic represented the family of a six-year-old boy who was allegedly sexually abused by the former janitor. 

In the December 2023 lawsuit, Martinez was accused of luring boys into empty classrooms and bathrooms to sexually abuse them on a daily basis over the course of five to six months, according to The Sun. 

Martinez had pleaded not guilty but was ultimately charged with 11 counts of child sex abuse and was held in custody until his trial began, reported KTLA. 

As the trial concluded, Martinez was acquitted on ten of the charges with the eleventh charge dismissed mid-trial. 

Three of Martinez's four alleged victims, all students at Maple Elementary, denied he had abused them. According to Martinez's lawsuit, Deputy Womelsdorf manipulated one of the students with candy and threats to corroborate the allegations that Martinez had abused him. 

During the first trial, attorney Ian Wallach identified Matinez's accuser as a 'mentally ill woman' who was dating one of the boys' mothers at the time. 

The claims have been carried over to Martinez's recent lawsuit, adding that his accuser is a 'self-confessed opioid addict with a criminal history' who had made similar allegations against others. 

His complaint alleges that the 'allegations were so impossible and fantastical that any prudent person or law enforcement officer would have investigated her background to determine their veracity rather than take her word.' 

It further claims that the defendants had learned the allegations were untrue, and 'rather than having the integrity to terminate the baseless prosecution' they instead 'chose to attempt to preserve the integrity of the failed investigation and each other's reputations', according to the lawsuit. 

Martinez was in prison wrongfully from his arrest in January 2019 until his release in December 2023, after he was acquitted. 

His accuser, according to the lawsuit, had been dating the mother of one of the boys for a couple of years. When they began dating, the mother's children were living in foster care, and they were returned to her custody in 2018. 

Both women are said to have reported to the Department of child and Family Services that one of the boys had been sexually abused while in foster care and had begun exhibiting strange behaviors, including inappropriate sexual acts and vandalizing furniture. 

Martinez's accuser claimed the young boy told her three other boys were molesting him at the elementary school, with led her to believe an adult had molested all four boys, according to the lawsuit. 

She further claimed the young boy had recognized the janitor's name, and he had told her in detail over a seven-hour period how Martinez had allegedly abused him. 

However, the lawsuit further claims that due to the young boy's learning challenges and known behavior, he would not and could not have, made the alleged seven-hour detailed admission.

The lawsuit detailed that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department found the young boy was not in any kind of distress and the boy was negative for any signs or indications of sexual abuse according to a Sexual Assault Response Team medical exam. 

Defendant Deputy Womelsdorf has been accused of asking leading questions, refusing to accept denials of the abuse, threatening to call the child's dad if he continued to deny the abuse, and offering him candy as a reward. 

Detective's Tracy and Arias were also accused of threatening Martinez with a false claim of video evidence against him. 

The lawsuit also accused Pribble and Arias of wrongdoing. It said: 'Defendant Detective Brian Arias, with the knowledge, support, and approval of Defendant Deena Pribble, fabricated evidence and gave false and perjurious testimony to a Court during a preliminary hearing and at trial.'  

All forensic evidence also pointed to Martinez's innocence, according to the lawsuit. 

'These Defendants, and others, intentionally chose to not review such evidence, even when it was provided to them by Defense Counsel, in an effort protect the integrity of an empty, corrupt, and biased investigation. These Defendants told multiple parents that their children had been raped. They received accolades for their work in arresting Mr. Martinez,' the lawsuit states. 

In a news release announcing the complaint filing, Martinez's lawyers alleged prosecutorial misconduct, including withholding evidence and witness coaching.  

'Pedro Martinez endured nearly five years of wrongful incarceration, separated from his family and forced to endure the stigma of baseless allegations, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence,' said Katherine McBroom, co-counsel for Mr. Martinez. 

'This case is a stark reminder of what happens when investigations are driven by bias and disregard for due process.' 

According to the complaint, Martinez and his wife are seeking compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined by trial.