Youth sports coach in Orange County facing 12 years for molesting student athlete

A 39-year-old youth sports coach in Santa Ana is facing up to 12 years in state prison after being convicted of molesting a 15-year-old student athlete and sexually assaulting a 22-year-old employee at the training facility, officials announced Tuesday.

Christopher Flores, also known as “Coach Frogg,” worked at the STARS Prep Academy in Santa Ana where he met both of his victims.

Flores gained prominence for training high-profile athletes like Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young of Alabama and Clemson starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.

In 2022, a recording of a phone call between a girl and Flores shared with KTLA and posted online included the 37-year-old pressuring the girl to join him on a date and him asking if she was “sure you got rid of everything.”

Police reviewed the recording and Flores was soon arrested in Bakersfield for sexual assault of a minor.

Prosecutors said the 39-year-old molested the 15-year-old STARS Academy athlete between January and December of 2021 and sexually assaulted the 22-year-old employee at the facility in 2022.

During his trial, two additional underage girls took the stand to testify about the coach’s sexual misconduct, a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office stated.

“These athletes went there to train in an effort to excel at their sport, not to be victimized by a pedophile,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “What happened is horrifying and the youth sports community as a whole has been victimized by the actions of a grown man who not only abused his victims but abused that position of trust in the most twisted way.

“As we watch elite athletes from across the world compete in the Olympics, this is a powerful reminder of how vulnerable young female athletes are and how important vigorous investigations and prosecutions can protect additional children from being victimized and bring these abusers to justice.”

Flores was convicted on four felony counts of lewd acts upon a child aged 14 or 15 and two felony counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object of a victim under the age of 16, and one felony count of sexual penetration with a foreign object by force, as well as sexual assault.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for October.

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