Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Detectives seek child abuse victims of former Lompoc-area soccer coach

Detectives are asking for the public's help in finding possible molestation victims of a man who coached youth soccer in the Lompoc area in the mid- to late 1980s, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department announced today.

The man, 52-year-old Terence Paul Stevens, is already facing multiple charges of child molestation.

During his coaching years, Stevens reportedly befriended several of his juvenile players, whom he ultimately molested, deputies said.

Two of those victims, who are now adults, have told investigators in recent months about their alleged victimization at the hands of Stevens when they were minors living in the Lompoc area.

By the mid 1990s, Stevens had moved to the San Diego area, where he continued coaching youth soccer. In 2008, Stevens was visiting Yuma, Ariz., when authorities there arrested him for sexual conduct with a minor. He has since been convicted of that crime and is serving a prison sentence in Arizona.

In August 2011, Stevens was extradited to Santa Barbara County to answer the local charges from the 1980s. Stevens is now facing 17 felony counts of lewd acts with a child; oral copulation of a minor and sodomy with a minor; all of which are related to the crimes committed against the two Lompoc-area victims.

Detectives are asking that anyone with information regarding additional victims call the Detective Bureau at 805-934-6170 or the sheriff's Anonymous Tip Line at 805-681-4171.

Source http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/local/detectives-seek-child-abuse-victims-of-former-lompoc-area-soccer/article_de28d196-45f4-11e1-b50f-001871e3ce6c.html

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