Ernesto Higareda Farias, 47, was arrested Wednesday for alleged child molestation of one of his teenage soccer players under 14 years old and was being held on $103,000 bail in the San Joaquin County Jail.

He was charged with a felony for contacting and communicating with the youth allegedly with the intent to commit an offense along with a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a child.

Farias is with the Flames United in Stockton listed as its director.  The coach offers private lessons at $40 an hour through the Manteca Pumas website.  Group training is $25 per hour and team training is offered at $160 per practice.

The Sheriff’s website had listed a court date as yesterday, Friday, at 1:30.  As of press time Friday night it states no new court date had been scheduled.



Cop crash victim in fair condition

A Doctors Medical Center spokesman listed the condition of a passenger who was injured in a collision last Saturday night as “fair.”

Jeremy Victorino, 29, had been a back seat passenger in a car making a left turn from Moffat Boulevard onto South Main Street when it was struck by a Manteca police unit responding to an “officer needs help” call from a fellow patrolman.

A family member said Victorino had suffered a fractured skull and a deflated lung and had been placed in a medically induced coma to aid his recovery.



ID of driver killed in Highway 99 crash

The driver of a pickup truck who was killed Wednesday morning entering northbound Highway 99 at Lathrop Road was Juan Manuel Santoyo, 27, of Modesto, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Santoyo reportedly spun out in front of a big rig as he was accelerating in a light rain on the wet pavement at about 11:30 a.m.

Funeral services are pending at the Galt Funeral Home in Galt.