California coach sentenced for placing camera in locker room

A former Southern California highschool soccer coach who secretly photographed practically two dozen college students in a ladies locker room was sentenced Friday to 9 years and 4 months in jail.

David Arthur Riden, a former assistant varsity soccer coach at Los Osos Excessive Faculty in Rancho Cucamonga, additionally can be registered for all times as a intercourse offender.

Riden, 53, was arrested final yr after a digicam disguised as a telephone charger was found in a feminine restroom by one other worker. Prosecutors stated they believed Riden used the digicam to secretly {photograph} 21 ladies whereas they had been in a locker room.

Riden pleaded responsible in October to fees of secretly photographing a minor, possessing greater than 600 baby pornography photographs and utilizing a minor to provide such materials.

Different counts had been dropped in change for his plea. On the time, the San Bernardino County Distict Legal professional’s Workplace introduced it was happy with the end result, which “ensures Riden is held accountable for his crimes and the victims is not going to need to endure a doubtlessly prolonged trial and any additional emotional trauma.”

There could also be many extra victims, in keeping with lawsuits and injury claims filed towards the Chaffey Joint Union Excessive Faculty District, which employed Riden in 2015.

Legal professional Gloria Allred, who’s representing practically 50 alleged victims in a injury declare, stated Friday that some dad and mom felt the sentence was disappointingly brief.

“Many dad and mom and their daughters have been on an emotional curler coaster,” she stated at a information convention.

Jordyn Stotts, a faculty alumna and considered one of Allred’s purchasers who publicly recognized herself as a sufferer, stated Riden’s actions “ruined me” and that she had misplaced belief in folks and suffers from anxiousness and melancholy.

“As soon as I used to be a woman who may tackle something,” Stotts stated. “Now I’m a woman who’s scared and who doesn’t know what to do.”

Chaffey Superintendent Matthew Holton stated in an announcement that officers on the second largest highschool district in California “stay deeply involved” in regards to the case.

“Our help for our college students is unwavering and we is not going to tolerate any actions that infringe on their privateness,” Holton stated.

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Observe Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna