An 18-year-old illegal alien groper from El Salvador has been found guilty of nine counts of assaulting teenage girls at Fairfax High School in Fairfax County, Virginia.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday as critics of Soros-funded Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano accused his office of sabotaging the case and filing reduced charges.
Israel Flores-Ortiz, who landed in Virginia after being released by the Biden administration, was arrested in March for groping and inappropriately touching more than a dozen classmates in the hallways of Fairfax High School.
Parents and victims’ advocates have accused the school district of downplaying the seriousness of the hallway assaults.
It came out in court that Flores-Ortiz, a soon a soon-to-be 19-year-old junior at the school, told school officials he “did it for fun.”
Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Melinda L. VanLowe found Flores-Ortiz guilty of nine misdemeanor counts of assault and battery, and not guilty on three other counts, local outlet WUSA9 reported. One charge was dropped.
His sentencing is set for April 21 and he could face at least six months in prison.
“This was intentional, deliberate, and invasive,” Demetry Pikrallidas, an attorney representing the families of the victims, told WUSA9. “He targeted these girls, and he did it for fun.”
In total, 12 girls testified against Flores-Ortiz during the all-day hearing. Surveillance videos capturing the assaults were shown in court.
A Fairfax High School administrative assistant testified in court that Flores-Ortiz admitted to the allegations, The Washington Post reported.
Along with not subpoenaing witnesses until days before trial, Descano’s office had previously agreed to Flores-Ortiz’s bail request but a judge denied his bond.
Descano’s office characterized the incidents as “just grabbing butts.” By pursuing misdemeanor charges, Flores-Ortiz avoided the sex offender registry and more serious charges that carry a longer sentence.
Virginians 4 Safe Communities wrote on X: “SOROS DA EXPLOITS DEPORTATION LOOPHOLE Why did Fairfax Soros DA Steve Descano charge illegal alien high school groper Israel Flores Ortiz with “assault & battery” instead of “sexual battery?” Undercharging Flores-Ortiz means: —harder to deport —not a sex offender”
SOROS DA EXPLOITS DEPORTATION LOOPHOLE
Why did Fairfax Soros DA Steve Descano charge illegal alien high school groper Israel Flores Ortiz with “assault & battery” instead of “sexual battery?
Undercharging Flores-Ortiz means:
– harder to deport
– not a sex offender pic.twitter.com/PaAjBwHnNx— Virginians 4 Safe Communities (@VA4SafeComm) April 9, 2026
Sean Kennedy, president of Virginians for Safe Communities, accused Descano of intentional “incompetence” and “imperiling the case altogether” by not giving victims proper notification of the trial, Fox News Digital reported.
“Victims, not Soros DA Steve Descano, deserve credit for verdict in illegal alien groper case,” Virginians for Safe Communities wrote on X after the verdict. “But ICE will give him free ride home. Descano office:
—tried to release groper on bail
—avoided sex offender registry & felony (20 yrs)
—said sex assaults were just “grabbing butts”
—only notified victims/witnesses day before but they ALL showed up anyway — forcing trial.”
Kennedy, who was present in court during the hearing, added on X: “Descano’s office ‘deserves no credit for this verdict—a Pyrrhic victory as it is.’”
Rather, Kennedy credited the guilty verdict to the victims, saying, “the girls showed up in force and forced Descano to try the case.”
Laura Birnbaum, a spokesperson for Descano’s office, refuted Kennedy’s claims to Fox News Digital, describing him as “a political hack who regularly lies about Fairfax cases.”
She called them “blatantly untrue,” and said that charges are set by a magistrate, not the commonwealth attorney. She also said that subpoenas were sent weeks in advance with “some additional subpoenas” being sent closer to the court date.
Descano’s Chief Deputy Jenna Sands prosecuted the case and said it took one victim sharing her story before other students came forward, WUSA9 reported. The victims identified a pattern of this happening and reported the incidents to school officials.
The crowded hallways gave Flores-Ortiz the opportunity to quickly touch the girls and go undetected—other than him being caught on camera.
Fairfax High School Assistant Principal Troy Ketch testified that he reviewed the school’s security footage and verified all but two of the complaints, including an incident where he saw “Israel with his hand on the backside of one of the students,” The Washington Post reported.
Descano’s office requested to close the entire hearing to the public, according to 7News reporter Nick Minock.
The judge kept it open except for when the victims (who are minors) testified. The hearing involved nearly nine hours of lawyer arguments and witness testimony.
“These were teenagers testifying in a courtroom under heavy scrutiny, cross-examination,” Pikrallidas, a Virginia attorney hired to represent one of the student victims, said per The Washington Post. “And they did it. They’re very brave.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest detainer for Florez-Ortiz after police issued a warrant for his arrest. Florez-Ortiz turned himself in on March 7.
On March 5, the City of Fairfax Police was contacted by Fairfax High School about reports of multiple assaults at Fairfax High School.
The assaults happened on several occasions over the course of several months, according to initial reports by parents. They have accused the school district of trying to keep the allegations quiet until parents pressed school administrators to do something.
According to victims, Flores-Ortiz would creep up behind the girls in crowded hallways and grab them between the legs and other private areas.
Flores-Ortiz illegally entered the United States in 2024 and was released into the country under the Biden administration. He was allowed to enroll in the school district despite being an undocumented immigrant.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared on social media that if Israel Flores-Ortiz was released by local authorities, ICE agents were standing by to take him into custody and deport “this sexual deviant.”
UPDATE: Today, Israel Christopher Flores-Ortiz appears in court facing charges for assault and battery against innocent teenage girls.
If Fairfax County’s sanctuary politicians choose to release this predator back into our communities, @ICEgov stands ready to take him into… https://t.co/QC9O55nGSl pic.twitter.com/5AsuAoYywf
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 9, 2026
Fairfax County Public Schools accepts adult illegal immigrants in its schools without documentation about their age, identity or background, and they can attend until they are 22 years old, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora of the Independent Women’s Network and a parent with three children in the district previously told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle”.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education also launched an investigation into the case amid claims Fairfax County Public Schools failed to respond to multiple reports of sexual assault. The probe falls under the Title IX federal law that prohibits sexual harassment, assaults and other gender-related crimes in schools and other facilities that receive federal assistance.
In commentary for IW Features by Lundquist-Arora, the Virginia-based outlet reported the district has stonewalled a Freedom of Information Act request for Title IX violations at the school level for the last three years to determine if Fairfax High School administrators filed Title IX complaints associated with Ortiz’s alleged victims.
On April 10, the FOIA officer sent IW Features incomplete, district-level data that shows Title IX violations are increasing—and there were no cases that resulted in student suspension.
This case, and several recent murders by illegal immigrants in Fairfax County, has drawn scrutiny from Descano critics, including House Republicans, as to the county’s sanctuary policies and refusal to cooperate with DHS and ICE officials. Fairfax County is a Democratic stronghold across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
Descano and County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, both Democrats, are expected to testify about the county’s policies at a hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration integrity, security and enforcement on May 14.
