Former coach gets 9 years in sex case
Haggerty’s sentence part of plea deal for sex assault charges
Jeremy Haggerty, a former youth basketball coach who worked at a number of local schools, was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison as part of a plea deal for sexual assault charges.
“He pleaded no contest,” said Greg Risling, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. “(The sentence) was part of a negotiated plea agreement.”
Haggerty pleaded
guilty in May to six counts of lewd act upon a child and three counts of sexual battery, all felonies, according to previous reports.
The judge Wednesday also ordered lifetime sex offender registration for the 34-year-old Haggerty, according to officials with the District Attorney’s Office.
Haggerty worked as a basketball coach at several schools, including Canyon High and Trinity Classical Academy.
He is accused of sexually assaulting nine victims over the course of nearly a decade, who ranged in age between 14 and 17 years old.
He had initially faced a maximum of 14 years in prison, based on the charges as originally filed.
At the time of his arrest, Haggerty was living in Orange County and working at a school there.
Aftermath
The incident also sparked a lawsuit by one of the victims against the William S. Hart Union High School District.
Lawyers with the Los Angeles-based firm Taylor & Ring filed a lawsuit on behalf of the former student, now age 24, naming the district as defendant.
The lawsuit also accuses the Hart District of failing to intervene or report the abuse, despite having received numerous complaints that Haggerty engaged in repeated misconduct toward male, minor students.
The lawsuit also alleges Haggerty used an injury the boy had as an opportunity to take advantage of the plaintiff. The lawsuit also claims the coaching staff was made aware of Haggerty’s behavior, but nothing was done to address it.
“We do not comment on litigation matters,” Hart District spokesman Dave Caldwell said in a previous report by The Signal.