Crime & Safety

Swim Coach Pleads Guilty to Another Teen Sex Assault

Todd Robert Sousa served eight months of his original 16-month sentence when another victim, from 2009, came forward.

Article originally posted June 28, 6:54 p.m.

A Laguna Hills swimming coach arrested about a month after serving time for having sex with one of his 15-year-old students pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting another 15-year-old girl.

Todd Robert Sousa, who co-owned Swim Venture Inc. of Laguna Hills with his wife, pleaded guilty Oct. 28, 2011, to 13 felony counts of lewd acts on a child, three felony counts of unlawful sex and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

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Sousa accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald and served a portion of a 16-month sentence. He was released from prison July 1 of last year.

Sousa was arrested in August of last year when another 15-year-old swimming school student told investigators she also had sex with him at a hotel near Disneyland, where the two agreed to meet, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department last year.

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Sousa was also accused at the time of his arrest of sexually assaulting the girl in an office in Lake Forest, according to Amormino. Those crimes were committed in 2009, preceding the crimes for which Sousa had served time in prison.

An informant contacted sheriff's deputies after Sousa was released from prison, and investigators tracked down the alleged victim, Amormino said.

Sousa pleaded guilty Friday to six counts of lewd acts on a child age 14 or 15 and a count of unlawful sex. He was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.

Sousa went to prison for picking up a 15-year-old girl and her friend from Irvine Spectrum and driving them to his office, where he gave both teenagers alcohol and then had sex with one of the girls in another room while her friend waited.   

His company, Swim Venture, rented pools throughout South Orange County, including Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch and Dana Point.

Editor's note: Article has been changed to reflect that Sousa served eight months of his sentence; the original story indicated he had served six. Also clarified that his most recent plea is for crimes committed prior to the ones for which he had already served time in prison.


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