A former basketball coach at La Jolla Country Day School was sentenced Feb. 13 to 180 days in a work furlough program for having unlawful sexual relations with a 17-year-old student.
Cesar Don Juan Flores, 27, who lives near Logan Heights, was ordered to report March 3 to the work furlough center, where he will be able to work days but be locked up at night and on weekends. Flores is no longer at the school and has another undisclosed job that qualifies him to participate in the work furlough program.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sontag ordered Flores to pay $1,190 in counseling costs to the victim at a rate of $100 per month under terms of three years’ probation. Flores received other fines and credit for one day he spent in jail when he was arrested in September of 2007.
The victim’s parents told the judge Flores was frequenting places where the victim and other high school students hang out. Flores has a restraining order against him that bars him from approaching within 100 yards of the victim.
“Show her some respect,” said Sontag, who ordered him not to go to places where he might run into the victim.
The courtroom was filled with both friends of the victim and Flores. The judge said 17 people wrote her favorable letters on Flores, including that of KFMB-TV personality Larry Himmel, who attended the sentencing but did not speak.
Flores pleaded guilty Jan. 14 to having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl in May 2007.
Five other sex charges involving other sexual contact in later months were dismissed when he pleaded guilty to one count.
Deputy District Attorney Terrie Roberts asked for a one-year jail term without involving the work furlough program. She also asked that Flores be required to register as a sex offender.
Roberts based the request on grounds of a second victim who graduated from the school in 2003, but “felt she moved on and did not want to come forward.”
Flores’ attorney, Robert Grimes, said there were inconsistent statements about the age of the other victim, saying she may have been 19 years old if she had sexual relations with Flores. He said the woman described her relationship with Flores as “having an affair” with him.
The judge turned down the request to have Flores register as a sex offender, saying there was not sufficient information about this other incident.
The victim told the judge she is “looked at every day as the criminal and not the victim” at school and is “severely sleep deprived” due to anxiety. Her mother said she was harassed at school.
The victim’s mother said Flores was “a seemingly nice young man (who) quickly became a friend of the family.”
“I feel betrayal, anger, bafflement. We have lost so much time in talking about you,” the mother told Flores.
“He’s smooth. He’s a user who used my daughter. That trust was violated,” she added.
The victim’s father said Flores had mentioned the possibility that others might somehow think he may be having a relationship with the student and how he should distance himself from that misconception.
The victim’s brother told Flores the “family is closer than ever,” adding, “The love we shared will always be stronger than any repulsive thing you did.”
Grimes initially asked for a sentence of volunteer work or public service work, but Sontag told him this was “not a public-service work case.”
Grimes said that because of the felony conviction, Flores is barred from teaching and some other occupations.
“He’s already lost his entire future,” Grimes said.
Flores will remain free on $60,000 bond until he begins his sentence at the work furlough facility.