Probation for Torrance coach who bound girls
Former West High School coach Michael Smith pleaded no contest today to one count of false imprisonment in exchange for three years probation. He must also pay $1,145 in fines and undergo a year of sexual offender counseling as part of the plea deal he made with Torrance city prosecutors.
Smith was arrested and charged with two sexual battery and one simple battery misdemeanors after it was accused of putting tape over at least five girls' mouths, handcuffing them and wrapping their hands and feet in separate incidents. There was also a charge of sexual battery for an inappropriate touching on the football field in 2005 involving a different girl.
All the sex-related counts were dropped in the deal, sparing Smith from having to register as a sex offender. There were also seven girls named in a protective order that Smith must stay away from.
After Smith's arrest in December, the walk-on coach for nine years was also accused of forcing boys to kiss him on the cheek before he would give them their team jerseys. No charges were ever filed from that alleged incident.
The full story will be in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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About the Blogger
Denise Nix knew as young as grade school, when she spent every summer working on the camp newspaper, that she wanted to be a journalist. Denise has spent most of the last 12 years of her career in the courtroom. She joined the Daily Breeze in 2001, where she tracks and reports on hundreds of cases at every level of the justice system. And she's never, ever, seen a judge use a gavel.
E-mail Denise at denise.nix@dailybreeze.com.
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Probation? Bound, tied and taped victims mouths? What a joke our justice system is. He will be right back at it again. That is his fetish and there is no cure for him except the death penalty!