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Illegal immigrant student accused of groping girls in N. Virginia High School

Illegal immigrant student accused of groping girls in N. Virginia High School

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — An adult Fairfax High School student has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery amid accusations that he was groping girls in the halls during school.

7News Reporter Nick Minock was the first to break this story and spoke exclusively with the victims’ parents.

“There's a group of about 12 individuals that have reported this assault,” one mother told 7News. “It was all perpetrated by a single individual who is a stranger to the girls. He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.”

Israel Flores Ortiz is almost 19 years old, and he’s in the 11th grade at Fairfax High School.

SEE ALSO | Family of murdered woman wants Fairfax County prosecutor held accountable

On Friday, Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith denied Ortiz’s request to be released from jail, even after Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office agreed to Ortiz’s bail request. The judge said the proposed bail request didn’t properly protect the public.

About a dozen girls have come forward to report that Ortiz put his hands in between their legs, grabbed their private parts in the front, and moved his hands to their butts while in the school’s hallways.

“What do you think about your experience so far with the school system handling this situation?” Minock asked two of the mothers, who agreed to speak on camera.

“Abysmal, abysmal,” one mother told 7News. “I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls.”

Parents of several of the girls tell 7News they are furious with Fairfax County Public Schools.