Illegal immigrant convicted of groping girls at Fairfax High School gets jail time

A Salvadoran man was found guilty of groping girls at Fairfax High School was sentenced Tuesday to 360 days in jail, but he likely will be back on the street far sooner.

Israel Christopher Flores Ortiz, 18, was credited with time served and other reductions, meaning that he will spend about 140 additional days behind bars, followed by two years’ probation.

He must also undergo a psychosexual evaluation.

Ortiz, who is from El Salvador and entered the U.S. illegally in 2024, was convicted April 9 of nine counts of misdemeanor assault and battery. Three assault charges were dropped, and a final count was dismissed.

The high school junior, who reportedly turns 19 in June, was accused by a dozen teenage girls of reaching between their legs and groping them during passing periods in the school hallways earlier this year.

At least one of the girls was 13.

“I think it sends a strong message that you don’t touch people in an inappropriate way,” said Demetrios Pikrallidas, an attorney for the girls’ families, told local TV station WUSA-9. “Not just in a school setting … No matter what, you don’t touch people inappropriately.”

He added: “Hopefully, it’s a deterrent. Hopefully, it never happens again.”

UPDATE: A Fairfax County judge Melinda L. VanLowe sentenced illegal migrant Israel Flores Ortiz to 360 days in prison for assaulting minors.

With time served, Flores Ortiz only has 135 days left in prison – this comes after his public defender originally ask for just a 9-day… pic.twitter.com/0NV90M6ahR

— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) April 21, 2026

Ortiz faced a maximum of six months in prison for each count.

Even so, Fairfax County public defender Jamie Hospers asked Judge Melinda VanLowe to sentence him to just nine days, describing the incidents as mere “butt-grabbing,” according to Fox News Channel.

Mr. Hospers added that “sometimes we arrest people for that, sometimes we elect them to be president of the United States.”

The defense said Ortiz saw his actions as a prank, not an assault, but the judge told him that his victims “were not having fun when you were grabbing them,” as reported by FFXNow.

The defense has 10 days to decide whether to file an appeal.

The case drew the attention of the Department of Education, which announced March 30 that it has opened an investigation into the district’s handling of the students’ complaints, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement submitted an arrest detainer after Ortiz was found guilty requesting that “Virginia sanctuary politicians not release this criminal illegal alien from jail back into our communities to prey on more innocent women.”