No Child Sex Abuse Charges Filed Against San Lorenzo Man

By Bay City News—
 
Service Prosecutors in Alameda County declined to file child sexual abuse charges against a San Jose firefighter who was at a hearing today on a drug charge case in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose, prosecutors said.
 
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges of oral copulation and other sexual abuse on a minor against firefighter Mario Enrique Cuestas, spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said.
 
Cuestas, 53, was arrested on Feb. 13 by the county's Specialized Enforcement Team, part of the state Department of Justice, on suspicion of sexual abuse on a 17-year-old boy and selling and possessing methamphetamine, according to department spokeswoman Michelle Gregory.
 
Drenick declined to elaborate on why charges would not be filed against Cuestas, who is a resident of San Lorenzo in Alameda County. Cuestas, a 20-year veteran firefighter and community outreach officer for the San Jose Fire Department, was in the Terraine Courthouse drug court in San Jose today for another hearing since his arraignment on felony drug allegations on Feb. 18.
 
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office filed three charges against Cuestas, including selling narcotics to an undercover officer, offering to sell drugs to an officer and possessing narcotics, Deputy District Attorney Patrick Vanier said.
 
At today's hearing, Judge Mark Pierce denied a motion by Cuestas' legal counsel to release Cuestas on his own recognizance and then set his next court appearance for March 20, when Cuestas may enter a plea, Vanier said.
 
Prosecutors allege that Cuestas, wearing firefighter garb, met with an undercover officer from the task force for lunch at a San Jose restaurant in January and agreed to sell the officer an eighth of an ounce of methamphetamine for $150.
 
Law enforcement officers served warrants to search his San Lorenzo home, his car and person and arrested him at the fire department's administration building on Senter Road in San Jose.
 
Cuestas, whose bail was set at $75,000, was still in custody at the county jail as of today, Vanier said.