A former Deerfield Beach lifeguard convicted of sexually abusing children during swimming lessons was sentenced to life in prison Friday.
Francisco Xavier De Aragon II was given multiple life sentences for sexual battery and molestation charges dating back to 2015.
De Aragon's wife, mother and father took the stand before the sentence was handed down to beg for leniency, before De Aragon himself addressed the judge.
"There is no justice in putting a life sentence on a man who is innocent. From day one until the day I die I have always maintained that I did not do this," he said.
But a jury found De Aragon, 29, guilty last month on all five counts of child molestation and sexual battery, the allegations made when he was a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Deerfield Beach Aquatic Center. Prosecutors say the former swim teacher reached inside three little girl's swimsuits, touching them inappropriately.
"He is not the man everyone thinks that he is. He is my world and I know that he didn't do this," wife Savannah De Aragon said.
The judge who sentenced De Aragon to four consecutive life sentences. None of the girls who testified during the trial were present for the sentencing.
De Aragon's wife, mother, and father were in tears leaving the courtroom and refused to comment.
