Former coach pleads guilty in underage sex case

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By WIRE SERVICES

Story Published: Feb 23, 2010 at 11:04 PM PDT

Story Updated: Feb 23, 2010 at 11:04 PM PDT

FULLERTON -- A former Tustin gymnastics coach pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Jason Wayne Scofield, who lived in Fullerton before enlisting in the Army last year, met the girl while coaching at Wildfire Gymnastics in Tustin, according to Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Scofield pleaded guilty to two felony counts each of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation of a minor and digital penetration of a minor; and one felony count each of sodomy of a person younger than 18 and sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger Robbins offered a plea deal of one year in jail and three years probation to Scofield after his attorneys requested it, Schroeder said.

Prosecutors objected to the plea deal because it did not require Scofield to register as a sex offender, she said.

Scofield carried on a sexual relationship with the girl from Feb. 17 to June 30, 2009, Schroeder said. The two had sex numerous times in his car and at his home in Fullerton, she said.

Scofield joined the Army after the relationship ended, and he was assigned to duty in Arizona. While serving in Arizona, the girl's parents found out about the relationship from a friend, and Scofield was subsequently charged in September.

Scofield, who could have faced up to seven years and eight months in state prison if convicted as charged, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30.

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