San Benito Health Care District Board Member Ernest Rivas
attended Thursday’s monthly meeting a week before he is scheduled
to accept a plea deal on charges alleging he kissed a 16-year-old
girl, while he also entered the closed session portion of the
proceeding during which officials were set to discuss his court
case and other matters.
San Benito Health Care District Board Member Ernest Rivas attended Thursday’s monthly meeting a week before he is scheduled to accept a plea deal on charges alleging he kissed a 16-year-old girl, while he also entered the closed session portion of the proceeding during which officials were set to discuss his court case and other matters.
Rivas, 58, is accused of kissing a 16-year-old girl in July and he was arrested by Hollister police in August. The district attorney charged him with a misdemeanor count of annoying and molesting a child, to which he pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors and his attorney, though, agreed to a plea deal on a lesser charge and they are set to make it official at a 4 p.m. hearing Thursday.
It is unclear what board members discussed regarding the Rivas case or whether he took part in those talks, and there were no official decisions made.
If convicted of molestation, Rivas would face a possible sentence of a year in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000, according to the penal code. He also would have to register as a sex offender. It is unclear what provisions might be included in the plea agreement.
