| For Immediate Release Case # 13HF0309 January 25, 2013 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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SOCCER COACH TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR UNLAWFUL LEWD CONDUCT WITH UNDERAGE TEEN GIRL
NEWPORT BEACH – A club soccer coach is scheduled to be arraigned today for unlawful lewd conduct with a minor girl. Ian Matthew Ebert, 26, Los Gatos, is charged with three felony counts of lewd acts on a child and faces a maximum sentence of four years and four months in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration if convicted. Ebert is out of custody on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today, Jan. 25, 2013, at 12:00 p.m. in Department H-1, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
Between Aug. 1, 2012 and Dec 8, 2012, Ebert is accused of working as a soccer coach for a private club in Irvine. On three occasions, the defendant is accused of engaging in unlawful lewd conduct with a girl between the ages of 14 and 15 years old, with whom he had intermittent contact through the club.
The Irvine Police Department (IPD) began investigating this case after the crime was reported by a school counselor. IPD arrested the defendant, Jan. 17, 2013.
Ebert also worked as a boys’ varsity soccer coach in the Irvine Unified School District between 2009 and 2012. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Anthony Sosnowski at (714) 834-8794.
If convicted, Ebert’s lifetime sex offender registration will bar him from entering County recreational areas and City parks which have passed the Sex Offender Ordinance. Visit www.orangecountyda.com to read the prior press releases on the County’s Sex Offender Ordinance as well as the 14 other cities that have enacted the Child Safety Zone Ordinance.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Nicole Nicholson of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
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