A former Lompoc youth soccer coach has pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation, and will serve 30 years in prison as a result.
Terence Paul Stevens entered the guilty pleas to charges involving three separate victims for offenses that occurred between 1988 and 2008, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Stevens, 52, was a soccer coach in the Lompoc area in the mid- to late 1980s, and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said in 2012 that several victims had recently come forward, and had been young players befriended by Steven and then molested by him.
Investigators said that Stevens moved to the San Diego area in the mid-1990s, where he continued coaching youth soccer, and was arrested in 2008 on charges of sexual conduct with a minor while visiting Yuma, Ariz.
He has since been convicted for that crime and is serving a prison sentence in Arizona.
Once he completes his sentence there, he will begin serving his 30-year sentence, and will be approximately 82 years old before he is eligible for parole, officials said.
In Wednesday’s statement, District Attorney Joyce Dudley commended the investigation of sheriff’s Det. Scott Pierce, as well as the work of Senior Deputy District Attorney Ann Bramsen.
Dudley also said she hopes Stevens’ guilty plea “provides some sense of closure to the victims in this heart-wrenching case.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.