Carlos Francisco Juarez, a former Southern California basketball coach, was handed a sentence of 150 years in prison for sexually assaulting four girls he coached more than a decade ago.
In July, Juarez was convicted of 10 felony counts for crimes that occurred over a five-year period between 2005 and 2010. The girl’s age ranges between 11 and 17 years old.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer commented on the situation at a press conference. “This coach was in a position of trust and authority over these young girls and he took advantage of them. Youth sports should be a safe environment where neither parents nor athletes should have to worry about children being targeted by a sexual predator,” Spitzer said.
Juarez’s first and youngest victim was taking private lessons at a local gym, where he made her practice topless. The victim also testified Juarez handed her an envelope full of money after sexually assaulting her.
Another victim had to deal with repeated sexual abuse from Juarez over a four-year time period.
The third victim alleged Juarez had her perform a sex act in exchange for a starting role on the team, while the fourth victim also alleged that she was assaulted in 2008 after taking private Basketball lessons.
Juarez’s ex-wife testified about how suspensions around her husband grew in 2018 regarding that her husband was sexually abusing their daughter’s teammate.
Juarez was found guilty of seven felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under the age of 16 and sexual penetration by a foreign object of a minor. According to the district’s attorney’s office, Juarez worked as a club coach and worked at high schools in Costa Mesa and Tustin, California.
