Former baseball coach pleads no contest to molestation

A former baseball coach pleaded no contest Tuesday to child molestation and sexual assault charges stemming from an investigation that began after he was found fellating a 14-year-old boy, San Mateo County prosecutors said.

Julio Edgardo Ortiz, 37, was arrested in September 2016 after a California Highway Patrol officer found him at Vista Point No. 3 on Interstate Highway 280.

Ortiz and the victim were in a parked car with the engine running and prosecutors say he was orally copulating a teenage boy when the officer checked inside.

Investigators say the Menlo Park man met the victim two years earlier when he was coaching baseball at a Redwood City elementary school.

Four more victims came forward eventually, including a woman who was assaulted when she brought her child to school for a parent-teacher conference.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said:

“She got there early so she was just talking a walk on the field, so he came up and grabbed her and shoved his hand down her pants. … You don’t see that much, where there’s assault of a child as well as an adult.”

On Tuesday, Ortiz pleaded no contest to continuous sexual molestation, lewd acts on a child by force or fear, lewd acts on a child 10 years younger than the defendant, lewd acts on a child under 14, contacting a minor to request child pornography, and digital sexual penetration of an adult woman by force or fear.

He’s facing 50 years in prison when he returns to court for sentencing on March 2. He remains in custody on $4 million bail.

Defense attorney Monica Toole could not immediately be reached for comment on Ortiz’s behalf.

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