Temecula Man Who Sought Sex with Player He Coached Is Sentenced

A former Murrieta Valley High School girls soccer coach who tried to coax a player into having sex with him was sentenced Friday to three months in jail and three years probation.

Daniel Ryan Kelly, 28, of Temecula pleaded guilty in February to attempted unlawful intercourse with a minor.

Under a plea agreement negotiated between the prosecution and defense, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Albert Wojcik dismissed a felony count of arranging to meet a minor for purposes of illicit activity and a misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child under 18 years old.

Wojcik imposed the sentence stipulated under the plea deal.

According to the District Attorney's Office, the defendant was arrested on Jan. 28, 2013, following an investigation into his interactions with a 16- year-old girl.

The youth, identified only as Jane Doe, was a member of the Murrieta Valley High School girls' junior varsity soccer team. Kelly was a walk-on coach, but did not teach at the school, according to police.

Prosecutors allege that Kelly took an interest in the victim and began communicating with her regularly via phone calls and texting. When the youth confided that she was feeling a lot of stress at home, the defendant told her that one way to alleviate her stress was to have sex, according to a trial brief filed by Deputy District Attorney Julie Baldwin.

"Defendant told Jane Doe that if she wanted to talk about sex with him ... to use a 'code word,' either 'Training' or 'Workout' with a capital letter, and he would understand that to mean she was referring to sex," Baldwin wrote.

Kelly gave the girl a ride to a soccer tournament in Anaheim, and along the way, told her that when he was younger, he dealt with anxiety by engaging in sexual intercourse, according to the brief.

When the defendant persisted in broaching the subject, the victim began to feel "uncomfortable" and told friends -- including an adult -- about what was happening, Baldwin said.

She said the information was passed to Murrieta police detectives, who had the victim make a "pretext" phone call to see if Kelly would make any admissions that could be recorded.

The conversation led to Kelly arranging to rendezvous with the girl outside a Temecula restaurant, with a plan to go from the eatery to an RV, where the defendant could start "Training" with the teenager, according to the brief.

Detectives arrested Kelly as he waited for the youth.

During an interview with investigators, Kelly "admitted that he had a lapse of judgment," the brief states.

— City News Service.