POMONA (CNS) - A man who coached basketball at a Hacienda Heights school was sentenced today to two years in prison for engaging in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old female student. Terrence Lee, 30, of La Habra Heights, pleaded no contest in May to a felony count of oral copulation of a person under 16. A felony charge of lewd act upon a child was dismissed as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Lee began a sexual relationship with the teen in April 2017, and it continued for about two months. Lee was a basketball coach at the Cedarlane Academy at the time.
One of the girl's relatives discovered sexually explicit text messages between Lee and the teen in June 2017, prosecutors said. The victim told her brother that Lee gave her the cell phone on which the messages were found, according to a law firm representing the victim and her family under Marsy's Law, the state victims' rights bill.
Lee was a walk-on coach and not employed by the school, which is part of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, his co-coach told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune shortly after Lee's arrest.
As part of his sentence, Lee must also register as a sex offender. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim for 10 years.