A former basketball coach in the Redwood City Elementary School District was sentenced to 50 years in state prison Friday for crimes involving the molestation of at least four male minors and sex crimes against one adult woman, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Menlo Park resident Julio Ortiz, 37, pleaded no contest to 11 counts of molestation Feb. 6 and will receive a little less than three years credit for time served. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to prosecutors.
Ortiz was arrested Sept. 18, 2015, after a CHP officer witnessed him orally copulating a 14-year-old boy in his car at the Vista Point rest stop off Interstate 280. The officer approached the car as it was still running, and Ortiz was also under the influence of alcohol that night, according to prosecutors.
Ortiz coached the first victim at Selby Lane School in Atherton, and after initial reports were filed, three other male minor victims and a woman stepped forward, according to prosecutors.
The woman said in September of 2010 she arrived early for a teacher’s conference at her child’s school and was walking around the playing fields when Ortiz grabbed her from behind, turned her to face him and forced his hand down her pants, according to prosecutors.
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District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said one victim and the mother of another victim submitted impact statements that were read in court Friday, and that Ortiz’s actions warrant every day of his 50-year sentence.
“It’s another one of those vile acts by a coach who has been entrusted with children and, in a horrific way, violates that trust and harms these children,” he said. “It cannot be called anything other than despicable.”
Ortiz’s defense attorney Monica Toole said a plea deal was never offered by prosecutors and that the deal Ortiz took was negotiated by his defense. She declined to comment on other aspects of the case.
Ortiz also formerly coached with the Sheriff’s Activities League before being arrested in Santa Clara County in 2014 for providing alcohol to a minor. He was let go at Selby and Clifford schools after the arrest.
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